DENVER — A man who posed as a rideshare driver in Denver and was convicted of 30 counts related to the kidnapping, assaults and attempted assaults of a dozen women has been sentenced to nearly 300 years in prison.
John Pastor-Mendoza, now 43, was convicted of those charges in October 2024. He was also convicted of one count of robbery. On Friday morning, Judge Karen Brody sentenced him to 290 years to life in the Department of Corrections.
His defense had asked for a probation sentence, stressing that Pastor-Mendoza has a daughter who is his No. 1 priority. They said this sort of sentence would allow him to “become a better version of himself.” Prosecutor Matt Schlager requested the maximum sentence of 294 years, adding that it was not something he was doing lightly. Schlager said he had to wrack his brain to think of another case where he had asked for the maximum sentence on every charge, and for those sentences to run consecutively.
Just ahead of the sentencing, Pastor-Mendoza spoke briefly in front of the court about how he “never touched anybody in my whole life,” always followed the rules, and called himself “the sweetest guy in this world.”…