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Fountain Valley Businessman Sentenced to 79 Years for Rapes

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A Fountain Valley businessman today was sentenced to 79 years in prison for raping three women and attacking two others--one of the harshest prison sentences ever handed down in a sexual assault case in Orange County.

Thomas Panichas, 32, who told jurors at his trial that he was just “a good-looking guy” to whom women were easily attracted, steadfastly denied all the charges in interviews from the Orange County Jail following his conviction.

But in court today, Panichas told Superior Court Judge David H. Brickner that while he had thought each woman had consented, “I may have misread their actions.”

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But Brickner told Panichas that he was a man “with delusions of grandeur” who thought he could talk his way out of any situation.

“One only shudders to think how many others (victims)) are out there,” the judge told him.

Panichas was sentenced on 19 counts of rape and sexual assault in incidents from 1985 to 1986. He had been investigated, but never arrested, after four of the incidents had been reported. Deputy Dist. Atty. Marv Stern said that each time it had been difficult to make a case against Panichas.

But he was finally arrested after a Las Vegas woman claimed he raped her when he interviewed her for a job with his cellular telephone business.

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