Crime & Safety

O.C. Rape Trial Starts Tuesday

Travis Dewayne Batten, Jr. is accused of the sexual assault of a Newport Beach woman in 2005 and the rape of an Irvine woman in 2006.

Trial is expected to begin Tuesday in for a man charged with sexually assaulting two women in Irvine and Newport Beach.

Travis Dewayne Batten, Jr., 31, of Irvine, was arrested in 2011 in connection with the 2005 sexual assault of one woman in Newport Beach and two in Irvine. The Irvine attacks happened in 2006, and 2010, Irvine police said at the time of the arrest.

The Orange County District Attorney’s office, however, is no longer charging Batten with the 2010 assault.

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Batten is charged with two felony counts of forcible rape, one felony count each of assault with intent to commit a sexual offense, assault with intent to commit a sexual offense during the commission of first degree burglary, sodomy by force, sexual penetration by foreign object by force, dissuading a witness by force or threat, kidnapping to commit a sex offense, and first degree residential burglary, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office.

He also faces sentencing enhancement allegations for committing sexual offenses during the commission of a burglary and tying up or binding a person. If convicted, Batten faces a maximum sentence of 176 years to life in state prison.

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Between May 2005 and November 2006, Batten is accused of breaking into the residences of two women, whom he did not know, while wearing a mask, according to a D.A. office press release. He is accused of raping an Irvine woman and sexually assaulting a woman who lived in Newport Beach.

At approximately 9 p.m. on May 20, 2005, Batten, then-23, is accused of wearing a mask and breaking into the Newport Beach residence of 40-year-old Jane Doe #1 while she was out, the release states. When the victim arrived home, the defendant is accused of attacking her and throwing her to the ground.

Batten is accused of forcing the victim to her bedroom and duct taping her hands and mouth, according to the release. He is accused of sexually assaulting Jane Doe #1’s breasts and vagina.

Batten is then accused of punching the victim twice in the head and threatening the victim, stating he would come back and get her if she contacted police, according to the D.A. press release. He is accused of fleeing the scene. Jane Doe #1 called 911.

Newport Beach Police Department collected DNA at the scene, which was entered in the local DNA database, officials said.

At approximately 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 30, 2006, Batten – again wearing a mask – broke into the Irvine apartment of 21-year-old Jane Doe #2, prosecutors allege.

Batten allegedly waited for the victim while she showered, then raped her as she exited the bathroom, officials allege. Tying the victim’s hands, Batten is accused of sodomizing the victim and raping her a second time, according to the D.A.

Before fleeing the scene, the defendant ordered the victim to get into the shower and not contact police, says the D.A. press release.

The cases had hit a wall until July of 2011 when a detective saw in an overnight log of police calls a report of a suspicious subject near where the Irvine rapes happened in the Harvard Avenue and Marquette area, an Irvine Police official said.

Irvine investigators set up surveillance in the area and gathered evidence that led them to Batten. Investigators analyzed his fingerprints and found they matched prints matched the 2005 sexual assault in Newport Beach, police said. They also matched DNA samples, police said.


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