Sepulveda Rapist to Get 60-Year Sentence

A 26-year-old Sepulveda man, who pleaded guilty Monday to a series of rapes in Van Nuys and the northwest San Fernando Valley, will be sentenced to 60 years in prison under a plea bargain.

Paul Avery Moran pleaded guilty to 12 felony counts, including rape and burglary, minutes before opening arguments were to begin in his Van Nuys Superior Court trial.

If he had been convicted of all 34 charges, the former fire-extinguisher repairman could have been sentenced to more than 200 years in prison.

Under the plea arrangement, Moran will be eligible for parole in 30 years, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda B. Greenberg.

She said all 12 rape victims had agreed to the plea bargain, which Moran and his attorney, Robert C. Swanson, had earlier rejected.

Judge Richard A. Adler said in court Monday that he will be bound by the plea agreement in sentencing Moran Oct. 19.

Moran pleaded guilty to nine counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and two counts of residential burglary.

At a preliminary hearing in May, 1986, six of the victims identified Moran only by his voice.

Over defense objections, Moran was ordered to utter several sentences that the women recalled from the attacks, including, “I’ll kill you.”

The six testified that they were unable to see their assailant because they were blindfolded, but they described the man’s voice as distinctive.

Several of them had previously identified Moran during a police “voice lineup” in which six men were asked to speak.

In addition to identifying Moran by voice, six other victims identified his face at the hearing.

Swanson had argued at the preliminary hearing for dismissal of the charges that relied on voice identification, calling the procedure “extremely unreliable.”

Most of the victims testified that their assailant bound their hands with clothing and covered their faces before threatening them with a knife and raping them.

The crimes occurred in the mornings between May, 1984, and December, 1985.