'He Will Die In Prison': Man Known As The 'NorCal Rapist' Sentenced To 897 Years 

A serial rapist dubbed the “NorCal Rapist” has been sentenced to hundreds of years in prison, which a prosecutor in the case hopes will equate to him dying behind bars. 

Roy Charles Waller, 60, was sentenced Friday to 897 years for a slew of vicious rapes and home invasions between 1991 and 2006 across Northern California, KTXL in Sacramento reports. A jury convicted him of 46 charges in November, including nine rapes and multiple counts of forcible rape, sodomy, and kidnapping. 

“There’s always an appeal, but we have every faith and every hope and trust in the system that he will die in prison,” Supervising Deputy District Attorney Keith Hill of the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office told KTXL.

Waller was arrested in 2018 after DNA from a soda straw and a half-eaten pear taken from his garbage connected him to the 15-year rape spree. The former University of California, Berkeley safety specialist broke into homes and tied up women before sexually assaulting them. He would tape their eyes shut while cuddling them between assaults, and would steal jewelry and ATM cards. In other attacks, Waller would kidnap women and force them to withdraw money for him at an ATM. He often wore a ski mask during such attacks as he traveled through Sacramento, Yolo, Butte, Contra Costa, Sonoma, and Solano counties.

Waller’s modus operandi was similar to that of infamous “Golden State Killer” Joseph DeAngelo, who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole earlier this year after DNA linked him to the crimes. In addition to committing 13 murders, DeAngelo raped at least 50 women and girls in northern California during the 1970s and '80s. 

Nicole Earnest-Payte, who was attacked by Waller when she was 21, told KTXL that she hopes Waller lives “a very, very, very long life” behind bars.

“I’m done, he’s gone, I never have to think about him for one more second of my life and that is the greatest relief I could ever, ever feel,” she said.

As the verdicts were read against Waller back in November, women in the courtroom began crying with relief. 

“For any survivor who has not had the strength to do so, who’s watching this today, the only person who should be ashamed of what happened to you is the person who did it to you," Earnest-Payte told KTXL. "It is never, ever you."

Waller’s attorney told KTXL that Waller maintains his innocence. They plan to appeal the sentence. 

The 897-year sentence is the maximum sentence allowed by law, Bay Area outlet KTVU reports.