Man accused of rapes held on $1.6million bail

SANJOSE » A judge set bail at more than $ 1.6 million Thursday for a man charged with raping four prostitutes and threatening to kill them.

Judge Richard Loftus Jr. set bail after Shandon Lawson, 26, appeared in court charged with more than two dozen offenses related to three alleged assaults involving the four women.

Cuffed at the waist with his ankles chained, Lawson, 26, did not enter a plea.

The alleged assaults took place in late September and earlier this month at motels in San Jose and Milpitas, prosecutor Carlos Vega said.

The women were prosti- tutes whom he had agreed to pay, the prosecutor said. But after having sex with them, Lawson allegedly either grabbed their throats or pulled out a knife, and while threatening to kill them, sexually assaulted them in a particularly brutal manner, he said.

“Regardless of the way they met, the level of depravity of this defendant against these young women is abhorrent,” Vega said.

In at least two of the cases, he used zip ties to bind the victims, Vega said.

Lawson was arrested Monday after the woman he is accused of assaulting Monday at the Best Western inMilpitasmanaged to escape by climbing over the motel balcony and alerting themotel staff. It is unclear what floor the balcony was on.

If Lawson is convicted of every count, he facesamaximumof about 500 years to life in prison, Vega said.

Lawson’s jail mugshot was not released Thursday because he is a suspect in several other similar rapes, and those potential witnesses have yet to be shown a photo lineup.