New trial date for Huron bar owner accused of rape

HURON (AP) — A new trial date has been scheduled for a South Dakota bar owner accused of serving alcohol to a 12-year-old and two 14-year-olds and raping them.

Thirty-five-year-old Werner Fajardo had been scheduled to stand trial on multiple rape charges on May 16. But Judge Jon Erickson has granted a defense lawyer's request to delay the trial so she has more time to prepare. Fajardo's trial is now set for June 27-29.

Prosecutors say Fajardo provided alcohol to the girls at his El Cuervo bar in Huron before raping them. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held at the Beadle County Jail on $150,000 bond.

Erickson has not yet decided on the defense's request to move the trial out of Huron.

Tags: news, updates, crime, huron, state, bar, rape, trial, courts