‘We Had Sex; That’s Normal,’ Says Man of 3 Alleged Rapes

A Fountain Valley businessman charged with raping three women and sexually assaulting two others told jurors Thursday that most of these women found him attractive and that he could not resist their interest in him.

Thomas Panichas, who faces 19 sexual assault counts, denied raping or assaulting any of the women, but admitted having sexual contact with most of them.

“We had sex; that’s normal,” Panichas testified.

Panichas was arrested a year ago after a Las Vegas woman alleged that he had lured her to Orange County on the pretense of a job interview with his cellular telephone company, and then raped her at her hotel room in Irvine.

She testified that when she tried to close her eyes during the assault, Panichas forced her eyelids open.

Claims She Made Overtures

Panichas told a different story on the witness stand Thursday in Santa Ana Superior Court. He said the woman, whom he had met only once before, made overtures to him in the car even before they reached her hotel room. After mutual-consent sex in the room, Panichas said, “she laid back on the pillows exhausted, but with a happy look on her face.”

Panichas also said that several of the women told him their personal problems and that he became more friendly with them because he felt sorry for them.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Marv Stern pointed out to Panichas that all five women who testified against him had known him for only a few hours.

“What is there about you, Mr. Panichas, that makes these women want to pour out their troubles to you?” Stern asked.

“I’m just a nice guy,” Panichas answered.

Panichas, 32, who lives in Costa Mesa, said that in one case he did feel guilty about having sex with one of the alleged victims, because he had been married only about 4 months and was trying to make his marriage work.

But Stern pointed out that Panichas had sex with another one of the alleged victims at a time when he was engaged. Panichas explained that when he walked into his office, the woman--whom he was interviewing for a job with his company--stood at a desk with her blouse off.

Didn’t his engagement give him second thoughts about having sex with this woman, the skeptical prosecutor asked?

No ‘Second Thoughts’

“With what I saw in front of me--her figure--I didn’t have second thoughts at all,” Panichas answered.

Four other women had reported attacks by Panichas, but he was never arrested. Law enforcement officials say that in each case, there was a problem obtaining necessary information, or cooperation, to bring Panichas to trial.

The alleged victims were all blonde and all in their early 20s.

Stern pointed out Thursday that Panichas had told several of these women that he was a highly successful businessman. He showed two of them a portfolio that had a 1988 projected gross income for his cellular telephone company of $190,000. Yet law enforcement officials say Panichas’ records showed that he had sold only a handful of cellular telephones, and had written more than $40,000 in bad checks to creditors.

Panichas explained Thursday that the bad checks were written only because of a temporary cash-flow problem, and that a loan he expected from a benefactor which would get his business back on track had been thwarted by his arrest.

Panichas, a tall man with wavy gray-black hair and wearing a wide-lapel suit, purple tie and maroon handkerchief in his breast pocket, could face more than 40 years in prison if convicted on all counts. He remains in custody at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail.

Complained to Judge

At one point during cross-examination Thursday, Panichas complained to Judge David H. Brickner that Stern was not letting him tell his story and kept cutting off his answers. Stern pressed him why someone heading a corporation potentially worth $190,000 would sit for 4 hours at a gas station waiting for the cashier to get off work just to interview her for a receptionist job. The cashier is one of two women who claim Panichas sexually assaulted her.

One of the women who claims Panichas raped her was a friend of a woman whom Panichas had just fired as a receptionist. Panichas admitted that he drove the woman home after firing her. When Stern asked whether Panichas had done that just to get a chance to see the friend, Panichas retorted: “That’s the craziest statement I have ever heard.”