(SAN FRANCISCO, CA) — On September 14, 2026, Honorable Judge Eric Fleming sentenced Orlando Vilchez Lazo (44) to a term of six life sentences for a total of 150 years to life in state prison following his conviction for 12 felony counts involving kidnapping and violent sexual assault between 2013 and 2018.
Orlando Vilchez Lazo (44) / San Francisco Police Department
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Mr. Vilchez Lazo, dubbed “The Rideshare Rapist” by police, was posing as a rideshare driver. The accused would pick up young women who were waiting for their ordered rideshare after leaving bars and nightclubs, and take them to a remote area to rape them.
The first rape occurred in 2013 when Mr. Vilchez Lazo picked up a 21-year-old college student (Survivor No.1) after exiting a bar in the Mission District. Mr. Vilchez Lazo picked her up and took her to an abandoned, industrial area, locked the car door and raped her.
The incident was eventually classified as a cold case until a DNA sample from a February 2018 incident entered the system, after a 22-year-old woman (Survivor No. 2) was violently raped by Mr. Vilchez Lazo after he posed as a rideshare driver and offered to take her home.
In May of 2018, a third woman (Survivor No. 3) left a SoMa club and ordered a rideshare near Howard and Second streets. Vilchez Lazo pulled up in a vehicle displaying a rideshare decal, and the woman got inside, prosecutors said.
"Vilchez Lazo falsely confirmed he was her rideshare driver," the district attorney's office said. "He then proceeded to take Survivor No. 3’s cellphone and transported her to Mansell Street where he got into the backseat of the car and violently raped her.”
The woman did not know where she was and screamed for help, prosecutors said. During the assault, Vilchez Lazo held a metal object to her neck and told her, "This can be easy or this can be violent.”
In June 2018, a fourth woman (Survivor No. 4) left a SoMa club and ordered a rideshare near Howard and Second streets. Vilchez Lazo pulled up, identified himself as an Uber driver and picked her up. He took her cellphone after it began ringing, then drove her to Mansell Street and raped her, prosecutors said. He threatened her with a sharp object, holding it to her neck and ordering her to comply.
The woman felt blood on her hands and realized she had been cut in multiple places, according to prosecutors. She escaped from the vehicle and knocked on the door of a home on Goettingen Street. The resident called police.
“Rideshare Rapist” pleaded not guilty in court, prior to conviction in which DNA evidence linked him to all four crimes / Photo Credit: San Francisco Chronicle
Thanks to the survivors’ bravery in working with the police and the San Francisco Police Department’s diligent investigative work, Vilchez Lazo was identified and arrested in July 2018, just one month after Survivor No. 4’s assault.
Lyft confirmed that he had formerly worked for the company and had now been deactivated, though there are no allegations that Vilchez Lazo was giving rides when the rapes occurred.
“These women were remarkable in calling upon a level of bravery that no person should ever have to experience,” said Assistant District Attorney Michelle Brass, who prosecuted the case. “They showed grace, courage, and strength during this excruciatingly long process. I hope these verdicts and this sentence provide them with some sense of closure and peace.”
Vilchez Lazo was convicted of two counts of kidnapping with intent to commit rape, four counts of kidnapping, four counts of rape by force/fear, and two counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object.
"Justice has been served for these courageous victims," District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement. "This sentence reflects the gravity and heinousness of Vilchez Lazo's crimes and holds him accountable for the pain he has caused. It also ensures that his reign of terror on our community permanently ends."
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