Sexual Assault

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.

Tamy Cerrato didn't grow up as a softball player. When she started the sport her freshman year at Costa Mesa High, she said it was difficult. "I didn't know anything about the sport," Cerrato said. "I was kind of lost. I grew up playing soccer and basketball, and this was totally different. It was out of my comfort zone. " She started playing at third base, one of several promising freshman for the Mustangs that freshman year of 2008. Now Cerrato and the other three varsity holdovers from that year – second baseman Sami Feinstein, shortstop Alex Krohnfeldt and outfielder Nikki Lether – are the senior leaders for the Mustangs.

UC Irvine will host the eighth annual Women's Journey Conference on Saturday, a day full of inspirational speeches by leading women. Rep. Loretta Sánchez will lead a discussion on female empowerment, speaking with at-risk girls about issues she's faced, such as pay discrimination, human trafficking, sexual assault in the military and reproductive liberties. All proceeds from the conference go to fund the conference's Self-Esteem Program for at-risk girls. "For me, self-belief was learned over time, and I was fortunate in that, when I was encouraged to try things, I often succeeded," Sánchez said in her book "Dream in Color: How the Sánchez Sisters Are Making History in Congress," according to a press release.