Disturbing New Details Emerge In Case Against 'Rideshare Rapist'
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – New details surfaced on Wednesday about which bars in San Francisco the so-called "Rideshare Rapist" allegedly targeted in his search for victims, according to court documents.
36-year-old suspect Orlando Vilchez Lazo is currently being held in the San Francisco County Jail, accused of raping four women. He was arrested last week.
Police say his victims got into his car outside San Francisco bars and clubs, thinking he was their Uber or Lyft driver when he wasn't.
The newly released court documents detail exactly what happened to each of the four women.
In November 2013, police said Vilchez picked up a woman at a bar called Virgil's Sea Room in the Mission. She was drunk and fell asleep in his car.
She woke up in a parking lot near warehouses and told him this wasn't where she wanted to go.
He started kissing her and eventually raped her. Afterward he got back behind the wheel.
The woman told him if he took her home, she wouldn't tell anyone what happened. He drove her home and the victim went to the hospital and filed a police report.
Currently, there is a five-year break between that attack and the next crime Vilchez is accused of committing. However, law enforcement experts believe there could be additional incidents they haven't learned about yet.
"What happened to him in those five years if he wasn't gone and he wasn't arrested?" asked former Oakland police chief and KPIX 5 law enforcement analyst Howard Jordan. "He may have had multiple victims. We don't know actually how many there are so far."
In February of this year, a woman who had been drinking with friends decided to go home, leaving the Temple Bar in SOMA at about midnight.
Vilchez drove her to a secluded location and got into the backseat and raped her before driving her home.
The victim told her roommates what happened and called police.
In May, Vilchez again targeted a woman leaving the Temple Bar. This time the victim got into his car at about 1 a.m.
The victim said he drove her to a secluded location where he got into the backseat and threatened her with a knife before raping her.
Afterward he also drove her home.
In June, Vilchez targeted his fourth victim, another woman who once again left Temple Bar at about 1 a.m.
She fell asleep in his car and woke up thinking her hands were wet. She realized Vilchez was in the backseat with her and the wetness on her hands was her own blood.
She had been trying to fend off the knife with her hands. He assaulted her and tried to rape her, but the victim was able to open the car's door and run away.
She found a house in the area that looked safe. The people there took her in and called police.
Vilchez faces 12 felonies, including the alleged rapes of those four women, kidnapping three of them and threatening them with a deadly weapon.
He is due back in court Thursday for his arraignment, which was postponed on Tuesday so his public defender could have more time to review the case.
Police believe there could be other victims.
Vilchez is being held without bail. He is an illegal immigrant from Peru who doesn't appear to have a criminal history other than crossing the border illegally.
Police said he was posing as a rideshare driver during the attacks, but he was also an actual rideshare driver at one point, working for Lyft.
Lyft told KPIX 5 that once it learned of the accusations, Vilchez was deactivated from the system.
It should also be noted that police say when he picked up his alleged victims in his car, he had stickers for Uber and Lyft in the window but wasn't using either app.
Police note that it is important when getting into a rideshare ride to make sure the license plate and the driver match what appears your phone.
