Transient Ordered to Stand Trial in 1982 Sex Assaults

A transient who in 1982 was found mentally incompetent to stand trial on charges that he sexually assaulted six San Fernando Valley women was ordered Monday to stand trial on the charges.

In addition to charges stemming from the sexual assaults, John Carver, 34, is accused of trying to kill one police officer and of assaulting two others with a knife during his May 19, 1982, arrest inside a North Hollywood department store.

At the conclusion of Carver’s preliminary hearing in San Fernando Municipal Court, Judge Paul I. Metzler ordered that he stand trial on 21 charges.

Before Carver could be tried in 1982, he was found to be incompetent and was sent to a state mental hospital, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kent C. Cahill said.

The new preliminary hearing was scheduled after doctors decided that Carver was competent and could understand court proceedings, Cahill said.

Carver was arrested after Los Angeles police staked out a North Hollywood gift shop where Carver was seen exposing himself four days earlier, according to testimony during the preliminary hearing.

Officer Jesse Castillo testified Monday that he spotted Carver outside the gift shop during the stakeout and followed him into a nearby department store. Carver tried to stab him with a knife, then tried to run from the store but was captured by two other officers, Castillo said.

Carver, being held on $500,000 bail, will be arraigned Dec. 15.

The charges against him include one count of rape, one count of oral copulation, five counts of assault with intent to commit rape and four counts of kidnaping. The crimes took place between February and May, 1982, prosecutors said.