John Pastor-Mendoza Sentenced to 290 Years to Life

Contact: Matt Jablow, Communications Director
Matt.Jablow@denverda.org
720-913-9025

John Pastor-Mendoza Sentenced to 290 Years to Life

DENVER — Denver District Attorney John Walsh has announced that Judge Karen Brody today sentenced John Pastor-Mendoza to 290 years to life in the Department of Corrections.  On October 24, 2024, Pastor-Mendoza was convicted of 30 charges related to the kidnapping, sexual assault, and attempted sexual assault of 12 women.

Between 2018 and 2022, Pastor-Mendoza falsely responded as the driver when the women used a ride-sharing app to request a ride. He would either sexually assault his victims in his vehicle or take them to another location and assault them there.

Pastor-Mendoza was convicted of kidnapping 12 women, sexually assaulting two of them and attempting to sexually assault seven others.  He was also convicted of one count of robbery.

“Pastor-Mendoza victimized 12 women in a calculated, cruel and contemptible series of crimes over four years,” said DA Walsh.  “Judge Brody’s severe sentence is entirely appropriate.  We should all be grateful for the courage of Pastor-Mendoza’s victims, who came forward and testified at trial to ensure that Pastor-Mendoza will no longer have the opportunity to harm our community. Thanks are also due to the prosecutors, investigators, victim advocates and paralegals in the Denver DA’s office, as well as the detectives and digital evidence analysts with the Denver Police Department, for their outstanding work on the case.”

Deputy District Attorneys Matt Schlager and Holly Snead prosecuted the case for the Denver DA’s office.

About the Denver DA’s Office:

The mission of the Denver DA’s Office is to protect the community, to seek equal justice for all, and to improve the quality and fairness of criminal justice on behalf of the people of Colorado.   We achieve that mission through excellence in our work investigating and prosecuting crime, supporting victims and their families, working with the community to prevent crime, and providing fair alternatives to incarceration in appropriate cases.