On Friday, Jose Palacios-Ronquill, age 38, was sentenced to 30 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for three counts of sexual assault, followed by lifetime supervised probation with sex offender conditions for three counts of attempted sexual assault.
“This defendant preyed on women who were completely unknown to him and used violence and force to sexually assault them for his own gratification, making him one of the most dangerous types of offenders to our community,” said Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. “This sentencing showcases the dedication this office has in ensuring justice is sought where sexual assault kits can identify a perpetrator.”
Between August of 2004 and March of 2009 Palacios-Ronquill sexually assaulted five different women on separate occasions by ambushing them in their homes or their vehicles. During the attacks, the defendant was either armed with a knife or claimed to have a gun threatening the victims with violence if they did not comply with his demands, he also often physically overpowered his victims if they resisted him.
In all five cases the victims were brave enough to contact law enforcement and have a sexual assault examination and kit performed. The sexual assault kits linked the attacks, however it was not until Palacios-Ronquill was sentenced to prison in 2012 for crimes committed in Colorado that his DNA was uploaded in to CODIS, the national database, and a match was found.