Former Mechanic Found Guilty of Irvine Rapes, Newport Attempted Rape

By PAUL ANDERSON

City News Service

A 31-year-old mechanic was convicted today of twice raping an Irvine woman and trying to rape a Newport Beach woman after breaking into their homes.

Travis Dewayne Batten Jr. of Irvine sobbed as the guilty verdicts were announced. Jurors began deliberations near the end of court day Wednesday and announced they had verdicts after about two hours of deliberations this morning.

Batten, a former mechanic at Fletcher Jones Motorcars in Newport Beach, was convicted of two counts of rape and one count each of kidnapping to commit rape, assault with intent to commit rape, digital penetration, sodomy, and assault with intent to commit rape during a residential burglary.

Jurors also found true sentencing enhancements for committing sexual offenses during a burglary and tying up or binding a person.

Batten, who is scheduled to be sentenced May 23, faces more than 100 years to life in prison, said Deputy District Attorney Whitney Bokosky.

One count each of first-degree burglary and dissuading a witness were dismissed because of the statute of limitations, Bokosky said. Charges involving a third woman were also dismissed before trial because she had moved back to Japan and did not want to return to Orange County to testify, the prosecutor said.

The sexual assaults, which date back to 2005, stumped Irvine and Newport Beach police until Batten's car was spotted around an Irvine apartment complex where there had been several reports of peeping, Bokosky said.

Police put Batten under surveillance, but could not make a case against him without his DNA, the prosecutor said.

Irvine police pulled Batten over in July 2011 for having tinted car windows and convinced him to voluntarily blow into a straw that tests drivers for alcohol, Bokosky said. From there, investigators were able to link his DNA to evidence collected from the victims, the prosecutor said.

The mask-wearing defendant broke into the homes of his victims and watched them before he attacked, Bokosky said.

Batten burglarized the then-40-year-old Newport Beach woman's home while she was away on May 20, 2005, Bokosky said. When she got home from the gym that night, he tackled her and forced her into her bedroom, where he taped up her hands and mouth and molested her, Bokosky said.

Batten stopped short of raping the woman when he broke his hand punching her twice in the head, the prosecutor said.

About 11:30 p.m.on Nov. 30, 2006, Batten broke into the Irvine apartment of a 21-year-old woman as she showered, Bokosky said. When she got out of the shower and answered her cell phone, Batten jumped out from a hallway, tackled her, tied her up and raped her twice before fleeing, Bokosky said.

A then-24-year-old woman was raped in the same Irvine apartment complex on July 8, 2010, but she did not wish to testify in the trial, Bokosky said.

Police found videos on an external hard drive Batten took of women studying, showering, watching TV and other mundane activities, the prosecutor said.