(InEDC) BY Jeremy Walsh / Pleasanton Weekly Jul 20, 2023, 12:50 pm
A man who grew up in Pleasanton is facing felony charges in two sexual assault cases from multiple counties and has been the target of at least two rape investigations reported to Tri-Valley police departments, the Weekly has learned.
Austin Nguyen, 26, was arrested by a federal task force in his current hometown of San Diego last month on a warrant out of Santa Cruz County stemming from sexual assault allegations from last decade that were first reported to law enforcement in recent years.
The Weekly has confirmed that Nguyen, who graduated from Foothill High School in 2015, was also named to the Pleasanton Police Department and the Livermore Police Department as the prime suspect in separate rapes reported to those agencies. Both Tri-Valley cases were forwarded to the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office for consideration of charges, but the status of that review is unclear.
Nguyen, who had an initial court appearance on July 7 after being transferred to Santa Cruz County Jail, was released from custody on July 11 after posting bail, according to online court records. His arraignment, where he is expected to enter a plea to the six-felony complaint, is scheduled for next Thursday (July 27).
Santa Cruz-area attorney George Gigarjian, who is listed as Nguyen’s retained defense counsel, did not respond to multiple requests for comment this month.
Charges were officially filed against Nguyen on May 15 following a multi-agency investigation led by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, with authorities alleging crimes against separate victims occurring in unincorporated Santa Cruz County and El Dorado County.
One set of charges applies to sexual assault allegations occurring between 2015 and 2016 against one victim, while the other set pertains to an incident in November 2015, according to Santa Cruz County deputy district attorney Michael Mahan, who is prosecuting the case.
Nguyen has been charged with two counts of sexual battery and one count each of sexual penetration by force or fear, oral copulation by force, rape of an unconscious victim and rape of a drugged victim, as well as two special allegations of committing serious felonies.
More than a month after the felony complaint was filed in the Santa Cruz County Superior Court in May, Nguyen was taken into custody on the related arrest warrant in San Diego by the Fugitive Task Force overseen by the U.S. Marshals Service.
He was booked into San Diego County Jail on June 28 and incarcerated there until July 5, when he was transferred to jail in Santa Cruz County, according to San Diego County Sheriff’s Lt. David LaDieu.
