Illegal immigrant used 'rape dungeon on wheels' to attack women: Report

California authorities have charged a man with rape after they say he assaulted two women in the Angeles National Forest, and a TV news station identified the man as an illegal immigrant.

The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said it believes there may be others who fell victim to Eduardo Sarabia, who they say used a white van in the attacks on the women on Sunday and Monday evenings.

Mr. Sarabia has been charged with forcible rape and forcible oral copulation. He is being held without bail.

Fox11 in Los Angeles cited sources who called the van a "rape dungeon on wheels" and who said Mr. Sarabia is an illegal immigrant from Mexico.

State Assemblymember Bill Essayli worried that his state's sanctuary policies could protect Mr. Sarabia from federal immigration consequences.

"Illegal immigrant caught driving around raping women in his van," Mr. Essayli said on the social media platform X. "Under our screwed-up laws, California will go out of its way to protect him from deportation after he serves his sentence. We must repeal our sanctuary state policy."

Mr. Sarabia, 40, was arrested Monday.

Local news reports said his van was stopped by a sheriff's deputy who ordered the man out at gunpoint. The deputy reported that he could hear a woman in the van screaming for help.