A Rancho Peñasquitos man accused of breaking into apartments and sexually assaulting two UCSD students in separate attacks was convicted Thursday of forcible rape and other charges. Teddy Seung Baek, 40, faces a possible sentence of life in prison stemming from the sexual assaults in University City in 2005 and 2006. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 14.
A San Diego Superior Court jury deliberated about a day before finding Baek guilty of seven felony counts, all corresponding to sex crimes. The panel was unable to reach a verdict on an attempted burglary charge. During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Means argued that DNA evidence linked Baek to the rapes of two women, both medical students in their 20s. The two incidents occurred about 18 months apart. One woman testified she was raped the morning of June 13, 2005, in her Cargill Avenue apartment by a man who entered through a bedroom window. A second woman testified she was attacked on March 6, 2006, by a man who climbed into her bed and held a cold, metallic object against her cheek. Baek, a married father of two, was arrested December 4, 2006, after police responded to a call from a third woman who said she saw someone in the bushes outside her City apartment. He was booked on charges of disorderly conduct and loitering, and posted bail the next day. He was arrested again at his home later that week after investigators compared his DNA with samples obtained from the victims. Defense lawyers Marc Carlos and Gretchen von Helms argued during the trial that Baek, owner of a Kearny Mesa travel agency, was innocent. They said Baek did not fully match the victims’ descriptions of their assailant, with the only similarities being that he is Asian and smokes cigarettes.
