San Francisco "Rideshare Rapist" receives six life sentences for violent sexual assaults
A San Francisco judge sentenced a man to multiple life sentences after he was found guilty of violent sexual assaults and kidnappings while posing as a rideshare driver, prosecutors said.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins' office announced Monday that 44-year-old Orlando Vilchez Lazo received six life sentences, totaling 150 years to life in state prison. Vilchez Lazo was convicted in March on 12 felony counts, including kidnapping with intent to commit rape, kidnapping, rape by force or fear and sexual penetration with a foreign object.
"Justice has been served for these courageous victims," Jenkins said in a statement. "This sentence reflects the gravity and heinousness of Mr. Vilchez Lazo's crimes and holds him accountable for the pain he has caused. It also ensures that his reign of terror on our community permanently ends."
Vilchez Lazo, who was dubbed the "Rideshare Rapist" by police, was connected by authorities to assaults dating back to 2013. He was arrested in July 2018.
According to testimony and evidence presented during the trial, Vilchez Lazo posed as a rideshare driver, picking up young women leaving bars and nightclubs, taking them to remote areas to rape them.
Prosecutors said the first attack took place in 2013, when Vilchez Lazo raped a 21-year-old college student after picking her up from a bar in the Mission District. The incident was eventually classified as a cold case until a second assault in February of 2018, when a DNA sample entered CODIS, the national DNA database.
Two more assaults took place in May and June of 2018 before Vilchez Lazo was arrested.
Vilchez Lazo is a Peruvian national who was living in the country illegally at the time of the crimes, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Uber said Vilchez Lazo never drove for their platform, while Lyft acknowledged he was one of its drivers after lying on his application about his immigration status.
The trial had been delayed for years because of multiple postponements, defense challenges over the use of DNA evidence, and the efforts of prosecutors to reconstruct events involving multiple victims across a five-year timeline.
"These women were remarkable in calling upon a level of bravery that no person should ever have to experience," said Assistant District Attorney Michelle Brass. "They showed grace, courage, and strength during this excruciatingly long process. I hope these verdicts and this sentence provide them with some sense of closure and peace."
