Judge Hands Down 6 Life Sentences To SF 'Rideshare Rapist'

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The 21-year-old college student was leaving a Mission District bar in 2013 when her rideshare driver arrived. Or so she thought.

Rather than take the woman to her destination, the man drove her to an abandoned industrial area, locked the car door and raped her, San Francisco prosecutors said.

This was just one of several instances in which Orlando Vilchez Lazo posed as a rideshare driver to target young women waiting for a lift after leaving bars and nightclubs, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office said.

On Monday, a San Francisco judge handed down six life sentences to Lazo, who was found guilty earlier this year of four counts of rape by force or fear, four counts of kidnapping, two counts of kidnapping with intent to commit rape and two counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object, authorities said.

"This sentence reflects the gravity and heinousness of Mr. Vilchez Lazo’s crimes and holds him accountable for the pain he has caused," San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said. "It also ensures that his reign of terror on our community permanently ends."

Police investigated the rape of the college student, but without a DNA sample, the case went cold, prosecutors said.

But the case was reopened in February 2018 after investigators received a DNA sample from a 22-year-old woman Lazo raped after offering her a ride home, prosecutors said.

Once entered into the CODICE system, the evidence matched up with the evidence from the 2013 sexual assault, but officers still had no identity.

Lazo raped at least two more women in the following months before he was identified as a suspect, prosecutors said.

On July 7, undercover officers in the city's South of Market neighborhood observed suspicious behavior from a driver operating what appeared to be a ride-hailing vehicle.

Officers stopped the vehicle and identified the driver as Vilchez Lazo and took a DNA sample for analysis and comparison, authorities said.

Investigators confirmed that Vilchez Lazo's DNA matched the forensic evidence from the four alleged sexual assaults and took him into custody on suspicion of rape. Police dubbed him the "Rideshare Rapist."

"These women were remarkable in calling upon a level of bravery that no person should ever have to experience," Assistant District Attorney Michelle Brass said. "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."