Man pleads guilty in Fountain Valley rape

A Santa Ana man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering a woman and a consecutive life term plus 119 years and four months for sexually assaulting five women, including one in Fountain Valley, over the past two decades.

James Detory Shipp, 41, pleaded guilty Friday to one felony count each of kidnapping to commit rape, sexual penetration by foreign object by force, kidnapping with the intent to commit an unlawful sex act, forcible rape, lewd acts upon a child under 14 and forcible lewd acts on a child under 14. Many of the charges contained sentencing enhancements, according to a release from the Orange County district attorney

“When you kidnapped me, I begged you to release me, and you didn’t let me go. I invoked the name of God, and you still didn’t let me go. Now it is God who will judge you,” one of the victims said during the sentencing, according to the release.

Shipp broke into a Fountain Valley woman’s apartment through her sliding door and ordered her to get on her bed in August 1995. He proceeded to forcibly digitally penetrate her and left his DNA in the apartment.

— Britney Barnes