Man found guilty in rapes, sexual assaults

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.

Prosecutors said in a press release that Achekazi met two of his victims at nightclubs in Laguna Beach, in one instance following a victim and luring a woman her into his car under the pretense of warning her about another man in the club, the release said.

When the victim became scared and fled Achekazi’s car, he caught her, and led her back to her car and where he raped her.

The D.A.’s District Attorney’s office also said Achekazi knocked out one 21-year-old victim’s front tooth in San Diego after becoming angry that she told her friend Achekazi raped her while walking through a dark park.

Achekazi also took off a woman’s pants in a limo in Costa Mesa while the woman slept. She awoke to him fondling her breasts, the release said.

Achekazi left the U.S. after being charged with the crimes. DNA matching his through INTERPOL helped authorities tracked him to Austria, where he was living under the name of Wali Ahmed Shoja, the release said.

He is from a national of Afghanistan.

Achekazi is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 27 and faces up life in prison.

— Lauren Williams

Twitter: @lawilliams30