Man gets 5 years for sexual assault
A man who was arrested after DNA evidence linked him to a sexual assault pleaded guilty in court Monday.
Yontan T. Araya pleaded guilty to sexual battery and abduction in the New Year’s Day 2014 attack. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young sentenced him to five years in prison as part of a plea agreement.
Araya, 27, formerly of Rosehill Drive in Reynoldsburg, also must register as a sex offender every 90 days for the rest of his life.
The victim, who was 35 at the time of the incident, did not attend the hearing.
The woman told investigators that she was walking to her car after leaving the EndZone bar on Vine Street after midnight when she saw a man she had turned down earlier in the evening.
Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Rausch said the man restrained and sexually assaulted the victim before he was chased away by employees of another bar. The woman had injuries that included bruising around an eye and on her lip, she said.
The case was unsolved until July 2015, when evidence collected from the woman at a hospital matched Araya’s DNA, which was in a federal database following an out-of-state conviction.
Araya declined to make a statement in court. Defense attorney Joseph Landusky said his client is apologetic and “was very intoxicated that evening.”