Trial Set for Man Charged in Newport, Irvine Sex Assaults

Travis Dewayne Batten, Jr., charged with three sex assaults in Irvine and Newport Beach, will face a jury starting April 22.

Prosecutors asked for the delay in a hearing Monday because they have to fly one of the suspected victims in from Japan to testify at the trial.

Batten was arrested less than two years ago in connection with the 2005 sexual assault of one woman in Newport Beach and two in Irvine . The Irvine attacks happened in 2006, and 2010, Irvine police said at the time of the arrest.

The cases had hit a wall until July of 2011 when a detective saw in an overnight log of police calls a report of a suspicious subject near where the Irvine rapes happened in the Harvard Avenue and Marquette area, an Irvine Police official said.

Irvine investigators set up surveillance in the area and gathered evidence that led them to Batten. Investigators analyzed his fingerprints and found they matched prints matched the 2005 sexual assault in Newport Beach, police said. They also matched DNA samples, police said.

Batten remains in custody.

— City News Service contributed to this report.