SAN FRANCISCO—On September 14, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office announced that Orlando Vilchez Lazo, 44, to a term of six life sentences for a total of 150 years to life in state prison following his conviction for 12 felony counts involving kidnapping and violent sexual assault between 2013 and 2018.
Vilchez Lazo was convicted of two counts of kidnapping with intent to commit rape (PC 209(b)(1)), four counts of kidnapping (PC 207(a)), four counts of rape by force/fear (PC 261 (a)(2)), and two counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object (PC 289(a)).
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Vilchez Lazo was posing as a rideshare driver, picking up young women who were waiting for their ordered rideshare after leaving bars and nightclubs, and taking them to a remote and secluded area to rape them. The first rape occurred in 2013 when the defendant picked up a 21-year-old college student (Survivor No.1) after exiting a bar in the Mission District.
Vilchez Lazo picked her up and took her to an abandoned, industrial area, locked the car door and raped her. The incident was eventually classified as a cold case until a DNA sample from a February 2018 incident entered the system, after a 22-year-old woman (Survivor No. 2) was violently raped by the defendant after he posed as a rideshare driver and offered to take her home. Two similar incidents occurred again in May 2018 and June 2018 against Survivors No. 3 and No. 4. Thanks to the survivors’ bravery in working with the police and the San Francisco Police Department’s investigative work, the suspect was identified and arrested in July 2018, just one month after Survivor No. 4’s assault.
The case against Vilchez Lazo was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Michele Brass, with help from District Attorney Investigators Lessa Dillon and Marte Strang, paralegal Andrew Ong, and IT support from Noaeh Pinaire. Special thanks to Victim Advocate Abby Cordova who worked closely with the victims throughout the pendency of this case. Prosecutors were able to develop a strong case thanks to the dedication of officers who investigated this case from the San Francisco Police Department’s Special Victims Unit.
