Convicted Rapist Faces Long Prison Sentence

A man who preyed on music teachers was convicted Friday of rape, kidnapping and robbery for attacks on three Orange County women who advertised their classes in the newspaper.

Jung Wan Hong, 37, could face up to 80 years to life in state prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 8 on a host of charges stemming from the 1995 attacks--a list so long it took the court clerk half an hour to read the verdicts and related findings.

Hong, who confessed to most of the allegations, looked straight ahead as the verdicts were read following a day and a half of deliberations.

Authorities said Hong answered the advertisements and lured the women by claiming he had children who wanted to take music lessons.

Hong was convicted of repeatedly raping a 23-year-old woman and then threatening to tell her husband about it unless she paid him $3,000. During that Oct. 16, 1995, attack, Hong waved a pellet gun resembling a .45-caliber pistol and held the woman using handcuffs and a stun gun, said Deputy District Atty. Rosanne Froeberg.

He was captured by police near the woman’s home after arranging to pick up the extortion money. The other two women later identified him.

Hong also was convicted in an attempted rape from which the victim escaped, and a third attack in which he stole a $10,000 violin from the teacher’s Irvine home.

Most of the charges carried related allegations that the attacks involved kidnapping and use of a dangerous weapon.

Hong’s defense lawyer said his client was desperate for money because his wife was about to have a baby and the rent was unpaid. Hong, his mother and grandmother were evicted from the rented room they shared in Garden Grove shortly before the spree, said defense lawyer Gregory Parkin. Only the wife was allowed to stay.

“I think he was just in a state of total distress,” Parkin said.