Rapist Gets 107-Year Prison Term

SANTA ANA — A 34-year-old man who raped four women and attempted to rape five others was sentenced to 107 years in prison Friday.

Jesus Solorio expressed no emotion except to occasionally shake his head as Superior Court Judge Richard F. Toohey called him a danger to society and read a list of his crimes.

The sentencing followed an emotional day in court in which five of Solorio’s victims told how the attacks have continued to haunt them.

Solorio, a foreman at an Orange County factory before his arrest in November 1995, has maintained his innocence throughout the trial.

“The characteristics of his life are in total contrast to the crimes he’s convicted of,” said Chris Hilger, Solorio’s attorney.

But witness testimony and physical evidence, including DNA, linked him to the crimes, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Rosanne Froeberg. In May, a Superior Court jury convicted Solorio of 17 felonies he committed from 1992 to November 1995.

One woman assaulted by Solorio told Toohey on Friday: “I want to do something terrible to him, sometimes to myself. . . . I’m scared that he’ll be back. Am I out of danger?”

Dubbed the “Orange Grove Rapist,” Solorio drove up to bus stops and forced women into his car or offered them rides, police said. Sometimes he used his wife’s car.

Solorio then drove to an orange grove near Jeffrey Road and Barranca Parkway in Irvine, where he attacked them, victims testified.

He was arrested after one rape victim saw him on Halloween night near the same bus stop where she was abducted. She watched him get into a car similar to the one in which she was attacked, and told her husband to jot down the license plate number.

Santa Ana police arrested Solorio after a short stakeout at his home on West Saint Andrew Place in Santa Ana.

The woman later testified that Solorio abducted her at gunpoint on June 5, 1995, and after raping her, threatened to kill her.

After his arrest, other women came forward with similar accounts, and investigators were able to link Solorio with eight other rapes or attempted rapes, Froeberg said.

Solorio was given two consecutive life sentences for two rapes, with a requirement that he serve 25 years on each before being eligible for parole, and 57 additional years for the two other rapes, kidnapping and assault.

“Everyone was concerned that he received the harshest sentence possible. . . . I think they’re satisfied with the way the justice system has worked,” Froeberg said. “But I don’t think they’ll ever have the sense of security they had before.”