Attacker receives 12 years

A Costa Mesa man was sentenced to 12 years in state prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to attacking several women in the city and trying to rape them.

Byron Izaguirre, 27, pleaded guilty to multiple sexual offenses, resisting an officer and first-degree residential burglary in Santa Ana court after two women were attacked the same February night in 2007.

Just before 1 a.m., Feb. 21, 2007, Izaguirre broke into a Costa Mesa woman’s home through the dog door and tried to get in her room. When the dog barked and woke the woman up, Izaguirre ran away.

Minutes later, Izaguirre attacked a 40-year-old woman outside of the home she was watching as she went from her car to the garage to get in. He attacked her from behind, but she wrestled him away and ran down the street screaming.

Izaguirre caught up and tackled her in the street, groping her before her screams alerted neighbors and he ran away. He was found by police hiding in some nearby bushes and resisted when they arrested him.

When news of Izaguirre’s arrest broke and the woman’s stories were told, two more women came forward.

One, a 24-year-old Costa Mesa woman, was groped by Izaguirre as he helped her get over a gate into her complex because she forgot her key. Izaguirre wrestled to get her sweater off, but she continued to fight and he ran.

A fourth woman — a 42-year-old coworker of his at Park Superior Health Care in Costa Mesa, where Izaguirre was a certified nurse’s assistant — was attacked when she resisted his continued advances after they kissed in his truck.

On top of his dozen years in prison, Izaguirre will have to register as a sex offender.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].