Rapist gets 61 years to life
A man on the Orange County district attorney’s Most Wanted list was sentenced to 61 years to life in prison Friday for sexual assaults that took place in Costa Mesa and other parts of Southern California, authorities said.
Ali Achekzai, 34, formerly of Ladera Ranch, was convicted Dec. 15 of six felonies for assaulting three women. One of the cases involved him following a woman and luring her into his car — under the pretenses of warning her about another man — before he raped her, according to the district attorney’s office.
After the assaults, Achekzai, an Afghani national, fled for Canada. He is believed to have lived in five countries under six aliases before his arrest and extradition from Austria in 2010.
In one of the cases, prosecutors said that Achekzai was in a limo with friends leaving a Laguna Beach nightclub. After the group left the club and went to Costa Mesa to drop off one of the group, Achekzai is said to have removed the pants of one 24-year-old woman and assaulted her while she slept.
When she awoke she found Achekzai fondling her breasts.
Orange County prosecutors said that he also repeatedly punched a woman in the mouth before raping her in San Diego County.
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