A convicted sex offender identified as a suspect in an unsolved 1994 kidnapping case in San Jose.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office announced Tuesday that a convicted sex offender was charged in a 1994 San Jose mall kidnapping case thanks to a recent DNA match.

Twenty-eight years ago, a 21-year-old store manager at President Tuxedo at Westfield Oakridge Mall was attacked by a man while she opened the store one morning.

According to police reports, a man entered the store’s showroom around 10 a.m. at knifepoint, forced her into the storeroom, and tied her to a pipe. He took money from the cash register and raped her before leaving the scene on foot.

The case was ruled closed after the San Jose Police Department exhausted several leads, although the DA’s office recently matched DNA from the crime scene to the perpetrator listed in the combined DNA index system.

Investigators have identified the prime suspect as Thomas John Loguidis, a 65-year-old man serving a 40-year prison sentence in a 2012 child sexual abuse case in San Benito County.

In December, a Santa Clara County Grand Jury indicted Logidis on one count of kidnapping for the purpose of committing a robbery. The jury also found that the crime involved the use of a deadly weapon, the threat of grievous harm, and a high degree of callousness. He faces a life sentence in addition to his current sentence.

The suspect was not charged with sexual harassment, as the statute of limitations for that offense had expired in 2000.

Loguidis will appear in court Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at Department 26 of the San Jose Hall of Justice.

“We don’t forget victims and we don’t forgive violent crime,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Our message to our community is that this Office will use cutting edge DNA forensics, detective work and a determination to seek justice. Our message to violent criminals: Don’t do this. You won’t get away with it.”

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