Suspect in 15 Valley Attacks : Accused Rapist Pleads Not Guilty to 5 Counts

A man suspected by police of raping at least 15 women during the last year in the East San Fernando Valley pleaded not guilty Monday in San Fernando Municipal Court to five felony charges of attempted burglary and rape.

The charges filed against Terry Allen Wilson, 30, of Lancaster stem from attacks on three women, including one in North Hollywood last Thursday who bit off part of his finger, authorities said.

The other cases are under investigation, prosecutors said.

Wilson was ordered by Judge Paul Metzler to appear for a preliminary hearing Aug. 8. He was being held at Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $225,000 bail.

Arrested Last Thursday

Wilson was arrested last Thursday while he was being treated for a finger injury at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City. Police said they called hospitals after the North Hollywood woman told them she had bitten her attacker.

Wilson was charged Monday with two counts of burglary, one court of attempted burglary, one of attempted rape and one of assault with intent to commit rape. The charges involved the Thursday attack and those on two Burbank women who lived next door to one another, Deputy Dist. Atty. Alex Kessel said.

Wilson tried to break into the apartment of one of the women last October but was chased away by the woman before he gained entry, Kessel said. He also allegedly attempted to burglarize and rape her next-door neighbor earlier this month. That woman also resisted the attack, Kessel said, chasing the attacker outside past her neighbor, who identified him as a man who had tried to break into her apartment last year.

Worked as Machinist

Police said Wilson, a machinist who worked in Burbank and used to live in North Hollywood, may have committed 15 similar rapes and six attempted rapes since June, 1984, in Burbank, North Hollywood, Toluca Lake and Studio City. Wilson also is a suspect in 16 burglaries, some of which occurred during the assaults, police said.

“We feel confident that we will be able to link him with those cases,” Kessel said.

Kessel said about 30 victims or intended victims will view Kessel in a police lineup next Tuesday.

Burbank Police detectives said they also are looking into unsolved rape cases dating as far back as 1979 to determine whether Wilson may be connected. Detective Michael Gough said Wilson had been arrested previously on suspicion of burglary in surrounding cities, but he declined to elaborate.

Gough said Wilson may have committed the crimes before starting his 6:45 a.m. shift at Menasco Inc., which manufactures aircraft landing gears. Most of the Burbank rapes in which Wilson is a suspect occurred between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. along Wilson’s regular route to work, he said.

Police said the victims were single women who lived alone in ground-floor apartments. In all cases, the attacker climbed through unlocked windows while the victims slept and used a towel or cloth to cover their faces.

In last week’s incident, Wilson allegedly broke into the apartment of a 34-year-old television producer at 4:15 a.m. The woman said she became angry when she saw the intruder, screamed and leaped out of bed to fight him. When the man tried to quiet her screams by pushing her down on the bed and putting his hand over her mouth, the woman bit one of his fingers, severing the fingertip, she said.

The man ran from the apartment and drove away as the woman called police, officials said.

The fingertip, which police were not able to immediately locate, was discovered over the weekend in one of the blankets on the bed, Kessel said.