Man Convicted in Rapes of 12 Women : Crime: Jose Romeo Fuentes is described as one of the worst serial rapists in the city’s history. Convicted on 41 of 53 counts, he faces life in prison.

A man who authorities say was among the most active serial rapists in Los Angeles history was found guilty Wednesday of raping 12 women.

After three days of deliberations, jurors found Jose Romeo Fuentes, 33, guilty of 41 of the 53 felony counts he was charged with.

In addition to the 12 charges of rape, the accusations on which Fuentes was convicted included five counts of forcible oral copulation; one count of sodomy using force; five counts of burglary; seven counts of robbery, and five counts of kidnaping for robbery, which carries a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole, among others.

“He’ll probably never be released from prison,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Geltz said of Fuentes, who lived in the Westlake area of Los Angeles.

The case against Fuentes, who was described by police as a religious man who loves his family, stemmed from a string of sexual assaults, mainly against poor Latinas, that prompted a massive police search in the Central City from 1991 to 1992.

During the trial, Geltz cited the geographical proximity of the assaults, the matching clothes described by victims, and the common method of operation used by the rapist in arguing that Fuentes committed all 56 crimes. He would often pose as a handyman to enter victims’ homes, or assault women as they walked to bus stops in the early morning, authorities said.

Deputy Public Defender Steven Schoenfield, representing Fuentes, never attempted to prove that the sexual assaults did not occur. He sought to convince jurors that the evidence--especially the original descriptions by victims of the suspect--clearly showed that one man was not responsible for all the sexual assaults in question.

“I felt there was reasonable doubt that there were several rapists,” Schoenfield said after the verdict.

All 17 victims in the case had identified Fuentes in either a photo or a lineup.

Fuentes sat rigid and unemotional as the verdicts were read, an interpreter whispering to him what was being said. His family members, who had attended many sessions of the trial, were absent Wednesday.

In the sentencing, scheduled for Jan. 25, Geltz said he would ask for the maximum punishment: more than 200 years in prison.

“The jurors’ verdict verified that he is an extremely dangerous man, and deserves the maximum sentence possible,” Geltz said. “Otherwise he’ll rape again.”

Schoenfield said Fuentes plans to appeal the verdicts.

Los Angeles police say Fuentes, a native of El Salvador, was the leading suspect in 27 other rapes for which charges were never filed because the victims were unwilling to testify.

Fuentes’ trial, which began Dec. 6, had been delayed a week after he was stabbed and beaten by inmates at County Jail Nov. 28. He has been in jail since his arrest in May, 1992.