Colorado man gets 20 years in prison for trying to run over women he believed were lesbians

Lauren Penington, The Denver Post on Jan 29, 2026

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DENVER — A man who tried to run over two women he believed were lesbians in 2023 will spend two decades in prison for attempted murder, according to court records.

Vitalie Oprea, 47, took a deal and pleaded guilty on Monday to attempted first-degree murder after deliberation, according to Arapahoe County court records. He was sentenced on that day to 20 years in prison.

The plea deal dismissed 10 other felony charges, including a second count of attempted murder, six counts of attempted first-degree assault, two counts of motor vehicle theft and one count of criminal mischief, court records show. It also dropped seven misdemeanor charges, two sentence enhancers and six traffic offenses from Oprea’s case.

Oprea was driving near East Arapahoe Road and South Liverpool Street in Aurora on Feb. 19, 2023, when he saw two women he believed were lesbians standing on a street corner, according to a news release from the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Witnesses told police that Oprea began yelling at and making obscene gestures toward the women before making a U-turn and driving the wrong direction up Arapahoe Road to get closer to them, prosecutors said in the release. The women ran into a grassy area near Grandview High School to escape.

Oprea drove over a curb, onto a sidewalk and across that grassy area to pursue the women, witnesses told police. When the women got into a pickup truck, Oprea rammed it with his vehicle. He then exited his car, kicked the pickup and attempted to pull one of the women out, prosecutors said.

Oprea fled the scene and was arrested in Arvada later that day.

“I drove at the women because I saw them kissing and they were lesbians and I wanted to kill them,” Oprea told police while in custody, according to the news release.

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