Ex-UCSB student sentenced to 30 years for rape after courthouse dash

A former University of California, Santa Barbara student convicted of raping and sexually assaulting multiple women has been sentenced to 30 years to life in state prison, closing out a yearslong case that also saw him briefly escape courthouse custody, according to a Fox News report.

Arian Eteghaei, 24, was convicted of forcible rape, forcible sexual penetration and misdemeanor domestic violence. Jurors also found true a special allegation that the sexual offenses were committed against more than one victim.

Eteghaei was arrested in 2021 as a freshman biology student at UCSB and was initially charged over assaults on three women. After the case became public, three more women came forward, according to the Santa Barbara Independent, which reported on his attempted escape.

Moments after the jury announced its guilty verdict in January, Eteghaei broke free from sheriff’s bailiffs while being escorted between two downtown Santa Barbara courthouses, running about a block toward State Street before he was tackled and held down by bystanders. He was shackled at the hands but not the feet at the time, and his attorney had argued minutes earlier that he should remain free on bail until sentencing.

The escape attempt landed Eteghaei an additional felony charge of escape by force, filed by prosecutors in March.

Santa Barbara County District Attorney John T. Savrnoch credited the women who testified against Eteghaei, saying “their strength and willingness to testify allowed the truth to be heard.” 

The sentencing comes amid renewed scrutiny of sexual violence at UC Santa Barbara, which Niche has ranked the nation’s top party school for the past two years. Campus crime data show the university recorded more than 100 reported rapes between 2022 and 2024, according to its Annual Security and Fire Safety Reports.

Two separate sexual assault reports this spring and summer prompted campus-wide warnings. UCSB police said in a May 10 Timely Warning that the report involved a rape and strangulation in campus housing, and that the suspect and survivor had met earlier that evening “at a party in Isla Vista.” Fox News’ later reporting identified the survivor as an 18-year-old freshman and described the earlier gathering as a fraternity party, saying she returned to her dorm at Tropicana Gardens before the assault. Weeks later, UCSB police issued a second Timely Warning describing a report of stalking and fondling near Tierra De Fortuna Park, in which a man on a bicycle circled back to a woman walking on West Campus three times over 15 minutes before striking her on the buttocks and fleeing.

UC Santa Barbara police have said federal law limits what officials can disclose about active investigations, but the department has said it remains in contact with victims’ families and works with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office when appropriate.