Crime & Safety

Convicted Rapist Could Face Life in Prison

An Irvine man is convicted of raping three women, including one he met in Newport Beach. He'll be sentenced in May.

An Irvine man on Thursday was convicted of raping and sodomizing three women, including one he met at a Newport Beach post office.

Joseph Raymond Garcia, 51, was convicted of six felony counts of forced sodomy and two felony counts of rape. Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker told jurors that Garcia romanced the women before assaulting them.

"For all three women, you're going to hear evidence about the charm, then the power play, then the forcible sex act," Walker said during the trial.

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The victims ranged in age from 22 years old to 42, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.

Public Defender Stephen Daniels argued that the women tried to take advantage of Garcia, seeing him as a "meal ticket."

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Garcia met his first victim at the Newport Beach post office where she worked. Eventually Garcia convinced her to go on a date, during which they kissed in his car, Walker said. On a second date, on March 5, 2005, the woman agreed to go to Garcia's Irvine condo. Once there, Garcia sodomized the woman though she pleaded with him to stop, Walker said. The woman called police about a month later at the urging of a therapist, she said.

Garcia met his his other two victims through the website millionairematch.com in 2006, according to authorities. 

The second victim traveled to Orange County from New Mexico after Garcia offered her a plane ticket, Walker said. The two had consensual sex several times. But in one instance, Walker said, the woman told him to stop and Garcia ripped off her underwear and raped her while holding a stun gun.

The third victim went on a date with Garcia. Later the two returned to Garcia's condo, where he raped her four times while threatening to use a stun gun on her if she didn't stop screaming, Walker said.

The jury deliberated for about four hours in the case. Garcia faces 120 years to life in prison when he is sentenced May 20 at the Superior Court's Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

"I'm just so happy that these three women finally have closure and justice because it's been so long coming to them," Walker said. "They were brave to come forward."

— City News Service


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