An Anaheim man, Sione Vea, 46, has declared a defiant not guilty to a spate of charges including kidnapping and sexually assaulting three women, and attacking a fourth in Orange and Los Angeles counties, as far back as 2018, the Orange County District Attorney's Office says.
If the courts find him guilty on all accounts, Vea stares down the barrel of a possible maximum life sentence of 272 years and eight months, his denial coming as the allegations paint a chilling portrait of a predator prowling for his next victim, coercing women into his car under the guise of solicitation only to turn the interaction into a nightmare at gunpoint, the sexual assault unit of the DA's office detailed how over multiple occasions stretching across years, a woman's trust was violated her safety stripped away by a man alleged to harness violence as a tool of control.
The charges against Vea are as serious as they are numerous: four counts of felony kidnapping to commit a sexual offense, six counts of forcible oral copulation and three counts of sexual penetration by force, two counts of second-degree robbery, with additional counts for forcible rape, sodomy by force and more, according to information released by the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
Vea, who was arrested by the Orange County Sheriff's Department on January 9 after the case was filed for a warrant at the beginning of the year, submitted his not-guilty plea on February 1 and now awaits a preliminary hearing set for February 14 in Department W11 of the West Justice Center, the Sheriff's Department alleges a pattern of predatory behavior where Vea approaching women in Stanton and Los Angeles for sex, using the opportunity to brandish a firearm and then commit his heinous acts which include accusations of robbery, sexual assault, and in one case, an attempted second-degree robbery.
"Over and over again, women were targeted and attacked by this sexual predator who waited for an opportune time to assault them," District Attorney Todd Spitzer emphasized the gravity of the situation, with the DA's office reminding the public that "sexual violence of any kind will never be tolerated in Orange County, and predators who prey on unsuspecting women for their own sexual gratification will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Orange County Sheriff’s Department is calling for anyone with additional information about Vea’s activities or any possible unreported cases to step forward and contact Investigator Austin Jones at (714) 647-7106 or via email at [email protected] as the probe continues, the weight of the allegations against Vea serving as a grim reminder of the threats women face, even in the seeming mundanity of daily commutes and casual encounters.
Deputy District Attorney Sean Riordan of the Sexual Assault Unit helms the prosecution and with the community's watchful eye, the legal gears turn, seeking to deliver justice not just for the alleged victims but as a message that echoes through the streets: We must and will do more to protect our women, to ensure that the price of predation runs steeply into the currency of time, measured in years, decades, lifetimes.
