‘Union Station Rapist’ Gets Four Life Terms

One victim was so traumatized she didn’t leave her home for six weeks. Others told authorities they wouldn’t ride public transit anymore.

On Friday, their attacker, Stephen Jackson Jr., known as the “Union Station rapist,” was sentenced to four life terms in prison by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Bob S. Bowers Jr. He won’t be eligible for parole for 81 years.

“He’s not getting out,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Marc Beaart said. “He’ll never hurt anyone outside of prison again.”

The 34-year-old Carson man was convicted last month on 11 counts, including rape, sodomy and attempted rape, involving five victims inside public stairwells in downtown Los Angeles. From March to September last year, he attacked two victims at the Central Library garage and three others inside the Metropolitan Transportation Authority parking structure next to Union Station.

Jackson’s victims’ ages ranged from 17 to 25, Beaart said.

One managed to run away after kicking him in the groin. He was caught when his fifth victim, a 19-year-old, outsmarted him.

After he raped the 19-year-old, she pretended to submit to him and suggested they go find some marijuana together. When they emerged from Union Station, the woman flagged down a passing police car and shouted -- while pointing at the stunned man next to her -- “I’ve been raped! I’ve been raped! He raped me!” according to Beaart. Police arrested Jackson on the spot.

Jackson testified that it was a case of mistaken identity by the first four victims and that the fifth incident had been consensual. But the victims all identified Jackson immediately from photographs or a police lineup, and there was a DNA match in one case, Beaart said.

Jurors convicted him on all counts.