Mechanic convicted on rape charges

An Orange County Superior Court jury convicted a man Thursday of sexually assaulting two women in Newport Beach and Irvine, authorities said.

Travis Dewayne Batten, 31, was found guilty of two felony counts of forcible rape, one felony count each of assault with intent to commit a sexual offense, assault with intent to commit a sexual offense during the commission of first-degree burglary, sodomy by force, sexual penetration by a foreign object by force, and kidnapping to commit a sex offense, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Batten was also given sentencing enhancements for committing sexual offenses during the commission of a burglary and tying up or binding a victim.

The Irvine resident, who worked as a mechanic at a Newport Beach car dealership, faces up to 120 years in state prison.

In May 2005, Batten broke into the residence of a 40-year-old Newport Beach resident whom he did not know. When she came home, Batten attacked her, constrained her hands and mouth with duct tape, and sexually assaulted her, authorities said.

According to prosecutors, DNA left at the Newport home helped link Batten to a second crime in November 2006 at a 21-year-old Irvine woman’s apartment. There, Batten sodomized the victim, whom he also did not know, and raped her twice.

Batten was arrested in July 2011 while driving to the Newport dealership.

His sentencing is scheduled for May 23 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.