The so-called “A.M. Rapist,” who terrorized young women in Ocean Beach and Mission Beach in their own beds in 2000 and 2001, has been sentenced to 75 years to life in state prison and ordered to pay more than $9,000 in medical and therapy costs to the victims. The DNA and fingerprints of Stephen Darien Richardson, 33, turned out to be his undoing, after investigators linked him to the crimes long after he moved away to Illinois and was arrested on Aug. 11, 2009. Five women were sexually assaulted while Richardson was stationed in San Diego in the Navy at that time. San Diego Superior Court Judge Kerry Wells imposed the sentence April 23 after listening to several victims who spoke of their traumas and how it continues to haunt some of them. He was given the “A.M. Rapist” nickname because he always entered the victims’ residence in the early morning hours, usually through unlocked windows or doors. The women were all asleep in their beds when he attacked them. His DNA showed up in rape kits at hospitals where the women were treated and he left his fingerprints on a window screen at an Orchard Avenue house. Richardson pleaded guilty March 12 to five counts of rape and agreed to accept the 75-year term. Eighteen other charges of assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and other counts were dropped. He could have faced 225 years in prison had he been convicted at a trial, said Deputy District Attorney Betsy McClutchey. A woman who was 23 years old at the time of her rape in her home on Santa Cruz Avenue said she continues to barricade her door and windows every night since her attack on June 9, 2000. She has flashbacks and still has nightmares of someone breaking into her home, sometimes waking up frightened and sweating, she said. “It is a huge relief to know he will be in prison for the rest of his life and cannot hurt anyone else again,” the unnamed victim wrote in a letter to the judge. “I am trying to let go of it and giving it to God because it is between the two of them now.” The woman said she became apprehensive, and was left no choice to take tranquilizers and anti-depressant medication to deal with the attack. “Perhaps Steve Richardson will come to realize how devastating his actions were,” she wrote. A 29-year-old woman wrote how she told Richardson she had cancer, although he continued to attack her. Richardson said in a letter to the judge he had never forgotten that. Richardson said he had remorse and was haunted by what he had done. Richardson joined the Navy at age 19 and was married twice, according to his probation report.