Violent rapist pleads no contest in brutal assault

A man accused of brutally beating and sexually assaulting a woman in an abandoned South San Francisco home last year before she escaped with the help of his cousin will be sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading no contest to felony counts of forcible rape and oral copulation.

Sergio Cortez, 29, faced 25 years to life in prison if convicted by a jury of kidnapping charge in the Sept. 8, 2011 attack on a woman who allegedly met him and agreed to have sex. Instead, he settled his case for the straight nine-year term which will be formally imposed Dec. 13. At that hearing, the court will also receive an evaluation of Cortez’s likelihood to re-offend as a sex offender.

Prosecutors say Cortez drove the woman to an alley where he punched her in the face and forced oral copulation before taking her at knifepoint to an abandoned home in the 600 block of Third Lane in South San Francisco.

Cortez allegedly broke into the home, forced the woman into a water heater closet where he urinated on her and called his male cousin to come over.

The cousin allegedly smoked methamphetamine with Cortez and left at which point authorities say the woman had her faced smashed against the bathroom wall and toilet tank before again being sexually assaulted.

The cousin returned with clothing and the men drove the woman to his house where she was told to shower. After Cortez left, the cousin’s brother called South San Francisco police who arrived and located the suspect a short time later.

At the time of his arrest, Cortez was on misdemeanor court probation for a petty theft conviction.

He remains held without bail.