Skateboard Star Sentenced for Rape, Killing
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VISTA — A former professional skateboarding star was sentenced Friday for the rape and murder of a 20-year-old San Diego woman in his Carlsbad apartment.
After an impassioned plea from the dead woman’s father, Mark (Gator) Anthony, who once earned more than $100,000 annually on the professional skateboard circuit, was sentenced by Vista Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Whelan to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of Jessica Bergsten in 1990.
He was also sentenced to a consecutive term of six years for rape. The earliest he can be paroled is 2010, the San Diego County district attorney’s office said.
Prosecutors say Anthony lured the woman to his home and raped and murdered her because he thought she was responsible for his breakup with another woman. After strangling her, he buried her body in a shallow grave in Imperial County.
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