A man wanted in New York for a series of sexual attacks on women was sentenced Nov. 9 to six years in state prison for attempting to rape an Ocean Beach woman, who bit the man’s finger during the attack. Blood from the wound left DNA evidence, which eventually led police to the attacker.
Abraham James Shorey, 25, was silent when San Diego Superior Court Judge David Danielsen fined him $2,400 and ordered he pay $700 toward a victim’s compensation program. Danielsen ruled Shorey would have to register as a sex offender wherever he chooses to live after his parole.
Shorey is named in an Ithaca, New York, warrant for a 2004 series of attacks in which a man “” dubbed the “College Town Creeper” “” broke into several women’s homes near Cornell University.
Deputy District Attorney Katherine Flaherty said New York authorities may extradite Shorey before he starts his term with the California Department of Corrections.
“It’s now up to New York. The ball is in their court,” Flaherty said. “They’ll make a decision (about extradition) before the end of the year.”
The Ocean Beach woman was 19 years old when she was attacked in her home on Aug. 7, 2005. Shorey admitted to cutting a screen on her unlocked bathroom window before entering the apartment. Wearing a mask and gloves, “he selected a knife from her kitchen” and entered her bedroom at 5:45 a.m. while she was sleeping, Flaherty said.
Shorey straddled her in her bed and put his hand over her mouth to stop her screams. However, the victim bit down, causing Shorey to bleed on her and the bed, Flaherty continued. Shorey then fled the scene, not knowing he left a unique clue to his identity.
“He would have never been caught had she not bit him,” Flaherty said. “She was courageous … She did fight.”
The woman is now attending college out of state.
“My daughter fought for her life. Luckily, she got the knife away,” said the victim’s father, noting she was traumatized by the event.
The woman testified in Shorey’s preliminary hearing on June 26 but could not identify him because he had worn a mask. He did not leave any fingerprints because he wore gloves.
Shorey’s attorney, Jack Hockman, advised his client not to talk to probation officials because it might affect the case in New York. He said Shorey “felt terrible about any injury” to the Ocean Beach woman. Hockman gave favorable character letters to the judge about Shorey and asked for a four-year term, as he was ineligible for probation.
Danielsen said the crime showed “criminal sophistication and planning,” adding that the victim was especially vulnerable “alone at night, asleep in her own bed.”
Shorey pleaded guilty Sept. 8 to assault with intent to commit rape and burglary with intent to commit sexual assault.
He was charged with two other burglaries in the same Ocean Beach apartment complex in which the window screens of other female tenants’ were cut. However, those windows were locked. The other burglary counts were dismissed.
Shorey received credits for 169 days previously spent in jail since his May 5 arrest in Normal Heights. Days earlier he was stopped for driving without a license in Chula Vista. An officer issued him a ticket and he was fingerprinted, but released before the fingerprint analysis showed a connection to the crimes in Ithaca, New York.