Atascadero man accused of sexual assaults sentenced to prison after jury trials deadlocked
An Atascadero man was sentenced to 11 years in state prison after he was convicted of attempted kidnapping, felony assault and residential burglary, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office announced in a news release Tuesday.
Tyrone Anderson’s sentence came after two jury trials deadlocked and could not agree on whether Anderson was guilty of some of the crimes he was accused of.
Anderson is now also ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years upon his release.
The charges stem from two separate incidents that occurred in December 2017 and May 2018, involving three separate victims.
Anderson was convicted of breaking into the San Luis Obispo apartment of a Cal Poly student in December 2017, the news release said. He taped her hands and ankles with duct tape and sexually battered her before fleeing.
Anderson was connected to the crime when evidence found at the scene matched DNA found in a separate incident the next year, where he physically assaulted a woman in her car.
The woman Anderson assaulted in May 2018 had just dropped her children off at school in Atascadero when he allegedly purposefully collided his car with hers, according to the release. He then pulled the woman into the backseat of her car and physically assaulted her.
A bystander tried to intervene, but Anderson pulled a knife on him and injured his hand. Atascadero police quickly apprehended Anderson after he fled the scene on foot, the news release said.
In March 2020, a jury found Anderson guilty of attempted kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury regarding the 2018 case, but could not reach a unanimous verdict regarding the charges stemming from the 2017 incident — assault with intent to commit rape, sexual battery and first-degree burglary.
The jury was also unable to reach an unanimous verdict when the case was tried again in July 2021.
As part of an agreement with the District Attorney’s office, Anderson pleaded no contest to residential burglary, assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, false imprisonment and misdemeanor sexual battery in December 2021 regarding the 2017 incident.
“It is because of the victim survivors’ willingness to come forward and participate, that we were able to bring this predator to justice,” District Attorney Dan Dow said in the news release. “We commend the neighbors and passersby in Atascadero who witnessed the crimes and came forward to help.”
