Sexual Assault

A 21-year-old Irvine man was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in 2010, authorities said. Victor Gillespie's conviction in August was his third strike, according to prosecutors. Authorities said Gillespie entered an Irvine woman's home through an unlocked sliding door and went to her bedroom. The 24-year-old victim was lying down before he assaulted her, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney's office.

Authorities are looking for sexual assault victims who they believe may have been targeted by a Newport Beach man. Adel Regragui, 42, is charged with three felonies of forcible rape, two felonies of forcible oral copulation, felony sexual penetration by force and sodomy by force. He faces up to 115 years in prison, if convicted, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney's office. He is also facing sentencing enhancements for allegedly assaulting multiple victims and tying and binding another victim.

A former Ladera Ranch man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he raped two women and sexually assaulted a third. Ali Achekzai, 33, who was on Orange County's 10 Most Wanted List until his extradition to the United States from Austria last summer, was arraigned at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig E. Robison set Achekzai's pre-trial for July 1 and his jury trial for Oct. 10. Achekzai is...

NEWPORT BEACH — A swim instructor from Irvine pleaded not guilty Friday to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old between April and February. Todd Robert Sousa, 36, is charged with 13 counts of felony lewd acts on a child, three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Prosecutors said he had sex with the girl in his office, an equipment closet and his car. He met her while working as her swim instructor.

Police are investigating the possible sexual assault of a 20-year-old woman found floating naked and motionless in a spa at the Ramada Limited & Suites in Costa Mesa Sunday morning. The police responded to a suspected drowning when a groundskeeper found her shortly after 7 a.m., Lt. Paul Dondero said. Police and paramedics responded to the call and removed the woman from the spa. She was conscious and breathing when they arrived, according to the police report. Detectives are looking into whether there were other people in the Jacuzzi with her. Evidence of alcohol was found around the area, police said, but they couldn’t give out results of toxicology reports.

The sentencing hearing for Greg Haidl and two others convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault has been delayed till next month. Haidl, 20, Kyle Nachreiner, 21, and Keith Spann, 21, were convicted in March after two highly publicized trials. Haidl is the son of a former Orange County assistant sheriff. Orange County district attorney's office spokeswoman Susan Schroeder said Tuesday that a sentencing hearing has been postponed from Jan. 20 to Feb. 24 because a court-appointed psychologist needs more time to evaluate the three young men before sentencing.

The young woman who testified against Greg Haidl, the son of a former Orange County assistant sheriff, in a well-publicized sexual assault trial has reached a tentative settlement in her civil lawsuit. Attorney Sheldon Lodmer, who represents the plaintiff known only as Jane Doe, declined to specify the terms of the settlement and said the agreement still needed a judge’s approval. The settlement would resolve a lawsuit Doe filed in December 2005 against Haidl, co-defendants Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann, Haidl’s father, Don Haidl, and their defense team.

Police are investigating the possible sexual assault of a 20-year-old woman found floating motionless in a spa at the Ramada Limited & Suites in Costa Mesa Sunday morning. The police responded to a suspected drowning when someone found her shortly after 7 a.m., said Lt. Paul Dondero. Police and fire department paramedics responded to the call and removed the woman from the spa. She was conscious and breathing when they arrived, according to the police report. Detectives are looking into whether there were other people in the Jacuzzi with her. “One of the things they’ll be doing is trying to put together the missing pieces of who she’s been with and then trying to identify the suspects,” Dondero said.

FOR THE RECORD A story Sunday, ?UCI police arrest man following sexual assault,? incorrectly spelled the name of campus spokesman Allan Taing. UC Irvine police officers arrested a man Saturday morning following a sexual assault near the campus several hours earlier. According to spokeswoman Susan Menning, police arrested Brian Timothy Russell, 21, of Irvine, at 8:57 a.m. and charged him with rape, forcible sexual penetration and oral copulation. The incident occurred around 1 a.m. in the area of Vista del Campo, a student apartment complex on Culver Drive.

The trial of a Costa Mesa man accused in a double murder case has been fast-tracked, prosecutors said Thursday. Daniel Patrick Wozniak, 28, is scheduled to be arraigned in a Santa Ana courtroom Friday on charges that he killed his neighbor, Samuel Herr, and Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, both Orange Coast College students, in May 2010, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. Prosecutors allege Wozniak killed Herr, who lived in his apartment building in Costa Mesa, in order to steal money from his bank account.

A fugitive who fled to Austria after raping and sexually assaulting women he met in Costa Mesa and Laguna Beach was convicted Thursday, prosecutors said. A man was been convicted Thursday of raping and sexually assaulting who raped and sexually assaulted women in Orange and San Diego Ccounties was convicted Thursday, authorities said. Ali Achekazi, 33, formerly of Ladera Ranch, was on the Orange County Ddistrict Aattorney's Most Wanted list until he was extradited from Austria in August of 2010, according to a news release from the D.A.'s office.

A former Ladera Ranch man accused of sexually assaulting three Southern California women before fleeing abroad is scheduled to stand trial Thursday. Ali Achekzai, 33, was on the Orange County district attorney's Most Wanted List until his capture in Austria in 2010, according to a news release from the D.A.'s office. Achekzai is facing six felony charges, including forcible rape, sexual penetration by foreign object by force and aggravated assault, as well as sentencing enhancements for allegedly committing sexual crimes against multiple victims, according to the release.

Authorities are looking for sexual assault victims who they believe may have been targeted by a Newport Beach man. Adel Regragui, 42, is charged with three felonies of forcible rape, two felonies of forcible oral copulation, felony sexual penetration by force and sodomy by force. He faces up to 115 years in prison, if convicted, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney's office. He is also facing sentencing enhancements for allegedly assaulting multiple victims and tying and binding another victim.

A 21-year-old Irvine man was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in 2010, authorities said. Victor Gillespie's conviction in August was his third strike, according to prosecutors. Authorities said Gillespie entered an Irvine woman's home through an unlocked sliding door and went to her bedroom. The 24-year-old victim was lying down before he assaulted her, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney's office.

An Irvine swim coach pleaded guilty in court Friday to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl while working as her swim instructor, authorities said. Todd Robert Sousa, 37, will serve 16 months in state prison after accepting a court offer of 13 counts of lewd acts on a child, three felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney's office. Sousa was working as an instructor at Swim Venture when he began assaulting the girl, according to prosecutors.

Irvine police arrested a man linked as a suspect in three sexual assaults in Newport Beach and Irvine dating to 2005. Prosecutors plan to charge him with felony sexual battery in the Newport case, according to Newport police spokeswoman Kathy Lowe. Travis Dewayne Batten Jr., 29 of Irvine, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection with a sexual assault that occurred in Newport Beach in May 2005, and two other cases that occurred in Irvine in November 2006 and July 2010, Irvine police said in a news release.

Opening statements were made Wednesday in the jury trial of a Costa Mesa man accused of raping two females, including a 17-year-old. Prosecutors say Jaime Zamora Ramirez, 42, raped the girl at his home in July 2009 after luring her there to pick up paperwork for the Fountain Valley dry cleaning business they both worked at, according to news releases from the D.A.'s office. He also allegedly threatened to report her undocumented immigration status if she reported the sexual assault.

An Irvine man received a 45 years to life in prison sentence Friday for raping and forcibly sodomizing three women he met through a millionaire matchmaking website. Joseph Raymond Garcia, 51, was convicted last month of six counts of forced sodomy and two counts of rape with a sentencing enhancement for attacking multiple women. Between March 2005 and October 2006, Garcia met two women who contacted him on http://www.MillionaireMatch.com , where he claimed he made more than $200,000 a year and was "strikingly handsome.

Editor's note: This corrects the street the SWAT team members walked down in the photo caption. CORONA DEL MAR — A seven-hour standoff between a sexual assault suspect and police ended without incident Monday morning in the Cameo Shores neighborhood, authorities said. David Charles Wilson, 48, surrendered to police about 10 a.m., said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Burdette. Wilson, who was unarmed, was taken into custody and charged with forced sodomy, Burdette said.