Saudi Arabian national likely to be deported pleads guilty to rape, sentenced to year in jail



Mansor Alshmmri

41 minutes ago • Kurt Hanson Daily Herald

A Saudi Arabian national pleaded guilty Tuesday in Fourth District Court to raping a woman at his apartment in Orem.

The suspect, Monsour Alshammari, 27, was arrested in late March on suspicion of date-raping a woman at his apartment. In late April, he tried to flee to Mexico to return home to Saudi Arabia after the Saudi Arabian consulate posted his cash-only bail. Court records allege Alshammari is related to Arabian royalty.


Orem police notified the Department of Homeland Security about Alshammari before his hasty departure south, and he was arrested at the border near Tijuana, Mexico. Alshammari was then held in a federal detention center in San Diego before his extradition back to Utah.


Alshammari’s attorney, Ron Yengich, told Judge Derek Pullan in court Tuesday that Alshammari and prosecutors reached an agreement on a guilty plea. By doing so, Alshammari’s second-degree felony charge for obstructing justice was dismissed.


According to Utah law, the minimum sentence for first-degree felony rape is five years to life in prison. However, as a result of the deal, Pullan ordered Alshammari to instead spend a year in the Utah County Jail, with credit for the time he’s already served since he was arrested in May.


Once Alshammari's jail time is served, Yengich said his client will likely be deported back to Saudi Arabia.


“I’d like to say that I’m so sorry. It wasn’t intentional at the time. I’m so sorry,” said Alshammari at sentencing.


Alshammari was also ordered to pay $6,000 in restitution to the victim for counseling and other reparations.

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