SAN JOSE — A Mountain House man has been charged with raping women in San Jose and San Ramon, after rape test kits linked both sexual assaults, according to court records.

Qais Faizi, 33, is in Santa Clara County Jail, where he is charged with rape in concert along with co-defendants Hamed Khamush, 29, of Dublin, and Ismat Bakhshi, 29, of San Jose, alleging the attack happened in December 2017. In Contra Costa County, Faizi faces charges of raping a drugged or intoxicated woman stemming from an incident in San Ramon in November 2021.

Faizi, Khamush, and Bakhshi were charged by the Santa Clara County DA’s office in April, and prosecutors in Contra Costa charged Faizi in May. All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In the San Ramon incident, a woman came forward stating that Faizi had sexually assaulted her during a party after she’d become intoxicated. Authorities matched her rape test kit to DNA collected during the investigation in San Jose, according to authorities.

Faizi is being held without bail in Santa Clara, and his bail in Contra Costa has been set at $1 million, according to jail records.

Source: www.mercurynews.com