The Region - News from March 31, 1987

A former Marine corporal who raped a 14-year-old Irvine girl in her bedroom last June has been sentenced to 17 years in prison. Phillip Jay Wheeler, 29, of Raytown, Tex., was based at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station at the time of the June 3 attack. Wheeler later pleaded guilty to forcible rape and oral copulation, sexual battery, residential burglary and assault with a deadly weapon, said Rosenblum, who prosecuted the case. Wheeler’s 17-year sentence, which was one year less than the maximum possible under state law, was handed down Friday by Orange County Superior Court Judge John Ryan in Santa Ana.