SAN JOSE — A Santa Clara County judge sentenced a man Monday to eight years in prison in a three-decade-old cold case kidnapping solved by DNA evidence in 2022.
Thomas John Loguidice, 67, was sentenced for kidnapping an Oakridge Mall employee in 1994 to eight years to life in prison, a sentence that will be served consecutively with sentences he is currently serving in San Benito County.
In December, Loguidice was convicted by a jury of one count of aggravated kidnapping with intent for robbery for attacking 21-year-old Denise Crank at her job at Oakridge Mall on Jan. 13. 1994. The case had gone cold for nearly 30 years until Loguidice’s DNA linked him to the case while he served a 40-year sentence for a 2012 child sexual abuse conviction in San Benito County.
Loguidice’s sentence was the maximum sentence allowed for the crime he was convicted of — seven years to life for one count of aggravated kidnapping with intent for robbery, and one additional year for the enhancement of using a deadly or dangerous weapon.
The judge also ruled that he did not have the jurisdiction to make alterations to previous sentences imposed by a judge in San Benito County. That sentence was calculated incorrectly, said Henry Kim, a Santa Clara County deputy district attorney.
Crank, now 53, said in an impact statement during the sentencing hearing that Loguidice’s actions have had a lasting impact on her life, including a diagnosis of PTSD, the ability to pursue her dream of being a physical therapist and “ever feeling safe again.”
“I have waited 31 and a half long years for this day — 31 and a half years to let you know that you may have gotten me [then], … but today I got you,” Crank said to Loguidice. “You knew that morning you were going to make me a victim of more than kidnapping and robbery.”
Crank added in her statement to the court that she still takes the stairs over the elevator due to her fear of being trapped in a confined space with a strange man, and that she cannot walk into public restrooms without feeling fear and anxiety.
Crank asked the court to sentence Loguidice to 30 years in prison – 28 years for the number of years she waited for him to be found, and 2 years for the length of time the case took in trial because he refused to plead.
“Because Mr. Loguidice was never caught for 28 and a half years, I had no idea where he was, so to me he was everywhere,” Crank said.
Another victim in a separate case, who was identified only as Jane Doe in court, shared how Loguidice sexually abusing her when she was five years old impacted her life and asked that he be sentenced to the maximum sentence.
Kim said that the sentencing was the maximum punishment available for the crime.
“I believe [Crank] does feel that there has been justice and closure for her. She’s been waiting for this day for so long — since 1994,” Kim said. “She didn’t know who this was, she didn’t know where he was, she was scared for her life.”
“She relived it in front of 12 jurors – that’s not easy. Her statement was really powerful,” Kim added. “Our office, Mr. Rosen, we don’t forget crime victims. We fight for them with everything we have.”
Kim added that allowing Doe to testify in front of the judge about the impact the child sexual assault had on her life gave “her a voice of how this affected” her life to reflect in a potential change of her sentencing.
Ben Rosenstein, the Santa Clara County public defender representing Loguidice, declined to comment on the sentencing’s outcome.
Loguidice was serving a 40-year sentence in a Soledad prison for a conviction in a 2012 child sexual abuse case when the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office cold case unit revisited the kidnapping case in summer 2022, resulting in a match between DNA evidence left behind at the 1994 crime scene and the DNA sample Loguidice submitted following his conviction.
Loguidice was indicted in 2022, and he has been held in Santa Clara County Main Jail for nearly two years while the case has gone through trial.
Crank was the acting manager of President Tuxedo at Oakridge Mall in San Jose when Loguidice walked into the showroom while she was opening the store, threatened her with a knife and took her back into a storage room. Loguidice bound Crank’s wrists and tied her to a pipe while he took the cash from the register. He then sexually assaulted Crank, police said.
The sexual assault allegations could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations expired in 2000.
A trial to decide on restitution was set for April 7.
Staff writer Robert Salonga contributed reporting.