Only On 9: Victim Of Serial Rapist Talks About His Release From Prison
SAN CLEMENTE (CBSLA.com) — A serial rapist is out of prison, and one of his victims is speaking out.
It's an interview you will see Only On 9.
The rapist attacked at least six women in Orange County, from Anaheim to Costa Mesa, from the late '70s to the '80s.
A jury decided this week that the man should go free. He spent seven years in a state mental hospital and got out Tuesday.
He served less than half of his 26-year prison sentence.
Stacey Butler spoke to Michelle Mazzola, previously known as Jane Doe No. 2.
Mazzola now lives outside the area but returned to Orange County to talk to Butler.
She wanted to warn other women about 59-year-old William Sabatasso.
"He's out. He has no probation officer. He has no parole officer. Nothing," she said.
Mazzola has fought to keep the man who raped her behind bars for 30 years.
"My biggest fear is that he is going to attack someone else," she said. "And this time instead of beating them to near death, he will kill somebody."
Prosecutors argued that every time the rapist has been released, he's re-offended.
"He's threatened to kill all of us multiple times," Mazzola says.
She was 20 when Sabatasso raped her after meeting her in an Anaheim bar in 1979.
Mazzola said she is angry that a jury could decide that Sabatasso is no longer a violent predator.
He told prosecutors he planned to move to Mesa, Ariz., to live with his mother.
Of the jury, she said: "You know, none of them wanted that guy to move in next door to them, yet they let him loose to move next door to somebody else."
She has a warning for women.
"Be aware these men are out there, and just because they are released from prison doesn't mean that they are no longer a threat."
Sabatasso will be required to register as a sex offender regardless of where he ends up.
Butler said that is little comfort to the victims who believe he is still a violent sexual predator.
