See Update No. 2 on page 2 about prosecutors seeking other possible victims of Baback “Bobby” Azadgilani. Update No. 1 on the next page is about the suspect turning himself in to police and allegations of past harassment.
ORIGINAL POST, MAY 17, 11:56 A.M.: Have you seen this fellow to the right?
Laguna Beach police suspect him of raping a woman in her home last month.
Officers have tried to arrest Babak “Bobby'' Azadgilani, 26, at his Laguna Niguel home and business, but he appears to be in hiding, according to Captain Jason Kravetz, the department spokesman.
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Investigators fear Azadgilani may have also raped other women, Kravetz added.
The suspect has been known to drive a 2010 BMW motorcycle, with the California license plate 2OM4237.
A $100,000 arrest warrant for rape has been issued for Azadgilani in connection with the alleged sexual assault late in the afternoon of April 21 in a woman's Laguna Beach home, Kravetz said.
UPDATE NO. 1, MAY 21, 9:03 A.M.: Babak “Bobby” Azadgilani turned himself in Friday, according to Laguna Beach police.
He approached the front counter of the Laguna Beach Police Department around 5:30 p.m. and was booked on a $100,000 warrant for rape, police said.
Meanwhile, readers who left comments with our original post claim complaints about Azadgilani harassing women were made to his auto-dealership superiors. These accusers say the dealer ignored the complaints because Azadgilani was a top salesman.
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UPDATE NO. 2, MAY 30, 7:30 A.M.: The Weekly previously covered allegations of past harassment by Babak Azadgilani, who has also faced accusations from some of our readers.
The Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) would like some of these accusers to come forward. Anyone with additional information or who believes they have been a victim is encouraged to contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator Paul Carvo at 714.347.8521.
As it stand currently, Azadgilani is charged with two felony counts of forcible rape, two felony counts of sexual penetration by foreign object by force, and one felony count each of sodomy by force and forcible oral copulation, with sentencing enhancements and allegations for sexual crimes against more than one victim and the use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a sexual assault.
He could go away to state prison for life with a conviction. Azadgilani, who is being held on #2 million bail, was arraigned Wednesday and has a pre-trial hearing scheduled July 5 in Newport Beach.
An OCDA statement sheds more light on Azadgiliani's arrest and current charges. Between July and September 2009, he allegedly sodomized a woman with whom he was acquainted by force, but she did not immediately report the assault.
This past April 21, Azadgilani is accused of running into a woman in Laguna Beach he had not seen for years. As she left the beach to walk home, Azadgilani allegedly followed her to her home's front door, despite the woman telling him that he was not allowed to enter.
But he wormed his way inside, where he sexually assaulted her, including forcibly raping her, the OCDA alleges. As he was leaving, she called police to report the assault.
This past May 11, Azadgilani allegedly convinced the other woman, from the summer of 2009, to come to his home. Once there, she confronted him about the forcible sodomy from four years ago, angering him to the point where he pulled out a knife and raped her, prosecutors allege. Again, she did not immediately report the assault.
But when the Laguna Beach Police Department issued a press release May 17 about the search for Azadgilani in connection with the April 21 rape, the other woman did come forward.
Azadgilani turned himself in to police the same day the press release was issued.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.