Man convicted of raping two women at knifepoint, one in Pacific Beach

A 22-year-old man was convicted Friday of raping two women at knifepoint in San Diego County in late 2018.

A San Diego jury deliberated for less than a day before finding Seth Alan Roberts guilty of seven felony counts, including two forcible rape counts. Roberts was also charged with raping another woman, his former girlfriend, but jurors acquitted him of a rape count related to that alleged victim.

Jurors convicted Roberts of raping the two women in separate attacks which occurred about a week apart in Pacific Beach and Otay Mesa, when Roberts was 18 years old.

Deputy District Attorney Judy Taschner told jurors in her opening statement last week that Roberts approached one of the victims in Pacific Beach and invited her over to his residence. She agreed, but the prosecutor said Roberts instead led her to an alleyway and raped her at knifepoint.

The Otay Mesa incident occurred about a week later with a young woman Roberts initially met at a trolley station in Chula Vista.

After exchanging phone numbers, he met up with the woman a few days later at her South Bay home, where the prosecutor said he raped her at knifepoint in her bedroom.

Roberts, who is originally from Oklahoma, was also accused of raping his then-girlfriend in October at a Bonita campground after the pair traveled to California from their home state.

Roberts was arrested in December 2018 at a home he was staying at in Chula Vista.

His sentencing hearing is set for Sept. 1.