Man pleads guilty to raping housekeeper in Midway District hotel room

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – An ex-con who beat and raped a housekeeper in a Midway District hotel room pleaded guilty Monday as his case was set to go to trial.

Christopher Stevens, who admitted a charge of forcible rape during a burglary causing great bodily injury, will be sentenced to 65 years to life in prison on Dec. 12.

Stevens, 45, had faced seven charges and a potential sentence of up to 450 years to life behind bars.

The victim — who was 54 at the time — testified that Stevens attacked her about 11:45 a.m. Dec. 21, 2012, as she cleaned a room at the Wyndham Garden Hotel on Sports Arena Boulevard.

She said the defendant came into the room, said it was his and told her clean the bathroom.

“I said, `It’s already clean,”‘ she testified. “He said, `Close the curtains.’ I thought he was going to harm me. He came toward me and threw me on the bed.”

Stevens then hit the victim in her head, knocking her unconscious.

“When I woke up, he was raping me,” she said, adding that he moved her about the room and raped her another three times before he got up and left the room. The victim was hospitalized for a week.

Stevens, who has prior convictions for auto theft, burglary and robbery dating back to 1988, was arrested three days later, on Christmas Eve.

The San Diego police crime laboratory positively identified Stevens as the suspect from evidence collected in the room, including a shirt and empty beer can, according to court testimony.

In a separate case in El Cajon, Stevens faces an attempted murder charge for allegedly trying to smother a 93-year-old woman with her pillow at an independent living facility.