A 36-year-old Reno man with three prior felony convictions in California has been sentenced to 73-years-to-life in prison for handcuffing, choking and violently raping a woman he met on Christmas last year on a city transit bus.
Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks reported Thursday that John Anthony Wayne Degen Sr. was sentenced last week following his conviction at trial in September of kidnapping, strangulation and battery with the intent to commit sexual assault.
Reno police said Degen convinced the woman to let him share her motel room, where he shocked her with a stun gun, handcuffed, sexually assaulted and repeatedly choked her to unconsciousness.
Prosecutors say the woman was hospitalized for multiple physical injuries and authorities later found handcuffs and two stun guns at Degen's home in Sun Valley.
