Two North Bay men accused of kidnapping a woman on a San Francisco street and beating and raping her while driving north to Sonoma will face a jury trial in January a judge said on Friday.

Christian Alejandro May Quintero, 27, of Sonoma and Fredi Analberto Lopez Flores, 36, of Novato have been in custody since their arrest in 2018, after the woman escaped from the car in Sonoma and asked for help.

Quintero was being held in the Sonoma County Jail on $ 4,650,000 bond, facing 21 felonies and 24 sentence increases. Lopez Flores, charged with 17 felonies and 47 improvements, was being held on bail of $ 3,635,000.

In Sonoma County Superior Court on Friday, Lopez Flores attorney Gabriel Quinnan said the case could not be resolved without a trial. Both defendants have withdrawn their waivers for a speedy trial and asked for a trial date.

Judge Christopher Honigsberg has ordered prosecutors and defense lawyers to prepare their pre-trial motions in mid-December and said jury selection will begin on January 4.

If found guilty, the men face life imprisonment.

Investigators said the men forced the 24-year-old into their car in the early morning hours of April 14, 2018, as she waited for a rideshare car to take her to her home in San Francisco.

They allegedly assaulted her in a black Dodge Magnum connected to Lopez Flores as they were on their way to Sonoma and when they got there.

Extensive cell phone data and surveillance video from the Golden Gate Bridge and several businesses in San Francisco, Marin and Sonoma counties linked the men to the times and places the woman said she was attacked, police said. .

The woman was able to escape the car as it was parked at a shopping center along West Fifth Street. She reported a Safeway employee, who called 911 and stayed with her until help arrived.

After investigators identified the car associated with Lopez Flores, his friend Quintero became a suspect, officials said, and a search of Quintero’s home in Sonoma linked him to the crime.

Police said at the time the woman was a random victim and the men were not linked to any car rental business.

You can contact Editor-in-Chief Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or [email protected] On Twitter @loriacarter.