Friday, December 16, 2011

An Afghan international serial rapist is facing life in jail after being convicted of sexually assaulting three Californian women

Ali Achekzai, 33, attacked a 21-year-old woman in her car near a nightclub in Laguna Beach, Orange County, and another on a hike near Mount Soledad in San Diego. He later fled to Canada and Austria where he was accused of rape in a separate 2009 case before being captured and extradited to California in 2010. He has since been convicted on six charges, including forcible rape and aggravated assault. Achekzai was formerly one of the most wanted men in the United States after being sought by Interpol, the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Marshals Service, Canadian police, Austrian Police, San Diego police, Tustin police and the Orange County Sheriff's Department. He was featured for years on Orange County District Attorney's Most Wanted list before his arrest in 2010 in Austria, when detectives from Tustin submitted DNA samples from their case to Interpol. The federal police agency then completed a successful DNA match to Achekzai, who was at that time living under an assumed name in Salzburg, Austria. He has now been convicted of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in her car in a Tustin parking lot after following her as she drove away from a nightclub in Laguna Beach in 2004. Achekzai also raped a 21-year-old woman on a hike near Mount Soledad in San Diego County in 2004 after he isolated her from her friends. The Afghan now faces up to 80 years in prison when he is jailed on January 27, 2012 by Superior Court Judge Daniel Didier.

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