Registered sex offender accused of raping developmentally delayed woman in Garden Grove

SANTA ANA — A registered sex offender was charged Monday, July 22, on suspicion of raping a 19-year-old developmentally delayed woman in Garden Grove.

Matthew Jason Weaver, who turns 45 on Tuesday, was additionally charged with sexual penetration by a foreign object and force, sexual battery, attempted sodomy by force and forcible oral copulation, all felonies, according to court records. He was arrested Thursday and was being held without bail, according to jail records.

Weaver picked up the victim in Huntington Beach on April 15, then drove her to Garden Grove, where he allegedly raped her, according to Garden Grove police Lt. Carl Whitney. He said the young woman had visited the beach and was looking for a ride home after missing her bus.

Court records show Weaver was convicted in March 2014 of two misdemeanor counts of lewd conduct in a public place and one count of indecent exposure. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and ordered to do eight hours of community service.

While he was on probation, he exposed himself in his car while making eye contact with two victims on July 11, 2016, and was subsequently convicted in October of that year of two felony counts of indecent exposure and two misdemeanor counts of lewd conduct in a public place and was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.

The victims took a picture of the defendant’s car and gave a license plate number to police, according to an appellate court ruling affirming his convictions.

Two days later, Weaver “went to considerable effort to expose himself to another driver,” according to the ruling. “He tailgated her and swerved to pull up in the lane next to her, then — while yelling to get her attention — contorted his body upward in an attempt to expose his crotch.”