Serial prowler gets prison for assaulting women in Sacramento homes, DA says
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Judge sentenced Juan Jose Soto to 17 years to life in prison.
- DNA evidence linked Soto to multiple prowling crimes from 2020 to 2021.
- A jury convicted Soto of assault with intent to commit rape, indecent exposure and burglary.
A judge on Friday handed down a potential life sentence to a man convicted for committing a series of burglaries in Sacramento, including one break-in where he climbed on top of a sleeping woman.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Donald Currier sentenced Juan Jose Soto, 40, to 17 years and one month to life in prison for the series of prowling incidents, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday in a news release.
Sacramento police investigators said they used collected DNA evidence that linked Soto to prowling incidents over a two-year span in the city.
A jury on June 12 found Soto guilty of assault with the intent to commit rape during a residential burglary, indecent exposure in a home, residential burglary, indecent exposure and five counts of peeking.
Prosecutors said Soto’s conviction included an enhancement that he committed the burglary and indecent exposure in a home with planning and sophistication.
From January 2020 through July 2021, Soto prowled homes in the midtown, Elmhurst and Sandra Heights neighborhoods in Sacramento, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The residents saw the prowler outside their homes peeking in at them.
Prosecutors said Soto, in one incident, stood outside a woman’s bedroom window before breaking into her home while wearing women’s underwear and exposing himself. The prowler continued to expose himself as he approached the woman’s bedroom door. She called 911, and the suspect left the home.
At that woman’s home, officers found cigarette butts with traces of Soto’s DNA and a pair of woman’s underwear, according to the DA’s Office.
In another incident, Soto entered a sleeping woman’s bedroom through an open window and climbed on top of her, prosecutors said. The prowler pinned down the woman’s arms, then she woke up and screamed.
Prosecutors said Soto left the woman’s home, but Sacramento County sheriff’s investigators found Soto’s fingerprints and DNA on a windowsill he used to get into and out of the home.
