A former Westminster police officer convicted of sexually assaulting a waitress was found dead in his jail cell, the same day he was supposed to appear in court, officials said on Friday.
Deputies at the Central Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga found Anthony Orban unresponsive in his single-man cell just before 3 a.m., officials said. Officials don’t suspect foul play. His attorney James Blatt said he hanged himself.
Orban, who served in the Marines in Iraq, was convicted in June of kidnapping and raping a waitress at gunpoint. Prosecutors say the off-duty officer used his service weapon to force the woman to drive to a self-storage lot, where he sexually assaulted her and shoved a gun in her mouth on April 3, 2010.
Blatt argued during trial that his client suffered a psychotic break because he was taking Zoloft and was effectively unconscious when he kidnapped the woman in the Ontario Mills mall parking lot in San Bernardino County.
Orban was expected to appear in a San Bernardino Superior courtroom on Friday, according to booking information online. Orban faced more than 100 years in state prison.
The victim, "Erinn," a 26-year-old single mother, told NBC4 in June that said she prayed to make peace with the incident and beared no ill will to Orban.
