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LOS ANGELES (AP) – A pilot has been arrested in connection with brutal attacks on women in Southern California, where he allegedly strangled them until they passed out and assaulted them in bushes in edge of a race track, prosecutors said Monday.
Robert Yucas, 51, faces life in prison if convicted in the Orange County case. Prosecutors said he raped a victim and attempted to sexually assault the other two women in Aliso Viejo, a town about 81 kilometers south of Los Angeles.
Authorities believe there could be other casualties in the United States and abroad due to his work as an international commercial cargo pilot, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said on Monday during ‘a press briefing to announce the arrest.
Yucas is being held in Alaska after being arrested Thursday in Anchorage when he landed there following a flight home from China. His extradition to California is pending. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
Yucas is also a suspect in San Diego and Riverside counties in other crimes, Barnes said.
(Editor’s Note: This story includes a discussion of sexual assault. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656- 4673.)
Women were “indiscriminately pulled” from an Aliso Viejo running track in 2020 and 2021 while skateboarding, running and walking, county prosecutor said of Orange, Todd Spitzer. Yucas allegedly put the women in chokes and dragged them off the trail, prosecutors said.
“These crimes are what nightmares are made of,” Spitzer said Monday.
Investigators identified Yucas after an anonymous informant said San Diego County officials obtained his DNA as part of a separate crime, Barnes said. The sheriff did not give details of the San Diego County incident, but said the DNA matched samples collected in two of the Orange County attacks.
In the first reported attack in Aliso Viejo on January 20, 2020, prosecutors said Yucas asked a 24-year-old skateboarder for directions. She took out her cell phone and Yucas attacked her, authorities said.
Prosecutors said she passed out and woke up after he raped her.
In the second reported attack on Aliso Viejo, a 32-year-old woman was running on April 2, 2020, when Yucas grabbed her from behind and strangled her, but she managed to push him back, prosecutors said.
Last month, Yucas allegedly grabbed a 41-year-old woman as she was walking the trail and strangled her, prosecutors said. She also lost consciousness and woke up in the bushes with her pants down.
“The three victims were doing simple things, enjoying life in the town of Aliso Viejo: skateboarding, running and walking a trail,” Barnes said. “What happened to these women will change their lives forever.”
Officials said Yucas was previously a pilot in the military, but investigators do not yet have his military record. He faces charges of kidnapping, forced rape, attempted forced rape and assault.
Pete Sanderlin, chief operating officer at Kalitta Air, told The Associated Press that Yucas had worked for the cargo airline for about two years. Sanderlin said Yucas had passed a required background check and that “his name had never been mentioned before” for issues with the company.
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