A man convicted of sexually assaulting a woman at knifepoint in a Pacific Beach alley nearly 25 years ago was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years to life in state prison.
John House, 53, was charged for the 2001 assault more than two decades later, when DNA evidence collected in his arrest in a different sex crime case tied him to the Pacific Beach attack, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.
In the other case, House was sentenced to seven years in prison for sexually battering five separate female joggers, the DA's Office said.
But in the Pacific Beach case, limitations in DNA technology at the time prevented investigators from identifying that woman's attacker until 2022.
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House was found guilty by a San Diego jury last fall of forcible oral copulation, with an allegation of kidnapping.
"The victim waited more than 20 years for this defendant to be brought to justice for his horrific kidnap and sexual assault," District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a statement. "Through the tireless work of specialized prosecutors and investigators in our Cold Case and Sex Crimes Units along with our law enforcement partners, we are able to solve these crimes that leave victims and their families living in fear and looking behind their shoulders for years."
