74-year-old man to be sentenced for raping teenager
A 74-year-old Blythe-area resident is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for raping a teenager and attempting to lure a middle school girl into his car.
Jeff Hsieh pleaded guilty last Monday to taking in a then-16-year-girl in 2015 and having sex with her in exchange for cash, heroin, methamphetamine and the use of a Mercedes-Benz SUV, according to prosecutors.
Related: Police – At least 40 people watched teen’s sexual assault on Facebook Live
Hsieh also admitted trying to lure a 13-year-old Blythe Middle School student into his Lexus later that year. The girl was able to escape unharmed.
Two separate cases had been filed against Hsieh, who pleaded guilty to one felony count each of rape by force or fear and stalking. Two additional rape counts, along with charges of human trafficking of a minor, procuring a person for prostitution, oral copulation with a person under 18, unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, solicitation of prostitution and child annoyance, are expected to be dismissed at sentencing.
Read: More Crime Headlines around the Coachella Valley
Prosecutors said Hsieh met the teen, who was identified in court documents as Jane Doe, while she was living on the streets, and she moved into his home for about a month starting in June 2015. During that period, he had sex with her frequently, including at least on three occasions where he forced himself on her, according to Deputy District Attorney Samantha Paixao.
Hsieh also took the girl to Indio and San Diego, where he paid for hotel rooms and waited as she engaged in sex with other men, Paixao said. He would then take her shopping as a reward, according to preliminary hearing testimony from sheriff’s Investigator Sgt. Julio Oseguera.
The girl’s plight was discovered when a boyfriend stabbed her in El Centro, drawing the attention of police and Child Protection Services, according to Paixao.
At his preliminary hearing, the defendant, speaking through a Mandarin-language translator, denied guilt, telling a judge: “Everything (alleged by the prosecution) was made up. Everything is fabricated.”
Hsieh was arrested in October 2015 at his residence in the 18000 block of Maple Drive, in an unincorporated community near Blythe.
More: Top Stories from KESQ News Channel 3 & CBS Local 2
