Oregonian sentenced to 15-plus years

An Oregon man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for raping a woman in a Costa Mesa hotel room and then stalking her for the next 18 months, Orange County district attorney officials announced Monday.

Tooraj Aghmiyouni Nakhei, 54, of Hillsborough, Ore., was sentenced Friday to 15 years and eight months after being convicted in October of rape, forced oral copulation, stalking and dissuading a witness related to a May 2007 incident and the months that followed.

Prosecutors said Nakhei met his victim in 2003 through an online dating service. The two kept in touch for years and, in May 2007, Nakhei flew down to Orange County to meet her. They agreed to have dinner at the Costa Mesa hotel where Nakhei was staying, and afterward, he said he had flowers for her in his room.

When they got to the room, Nakhei raped her and orally copulated the woman even though she begged him to stop. She didn’t report the crime at the time because she was embarrassed, prosecutors said.

Over the next 18 months, Nakhei called and e-mailed the woman hundreds of times, with messages ranging from apologetic to insulting and saying he wished she was dead. Nakhei’s victim filed a police report for stalking in December 2007.

Nearly a year after the stalking report, police arrested Nakhei near the woman’s home in October 2008. A protective order was issued, and during his incarceration, the woman reported the rape. Nakhei was released from prison on the stalking charge and arrested a month later for the sexual assault.

In March 2009, he violated the protective order and tried to get into the victim’s car, telling her not to testify to the rape. He was arrested the next day and has been in custody through his trial and sentencing Friday. He will now go to prison to serve his sentence.