Prostitutes Assaulted in Agua Dulce : Rapist Pleads No Contest on 3 Attacks

A man accused of kidnaping and sexually assaulting three prostitutes near Canyon Country in 1985 pleaded no contest in San Fernando Superior Court on Wednesday to two counts of sodomy, one count of rape and one count of jumping bail.

Rabih Hamdo Alkharsa, 35, a former Hollywood resident, was accused of picking up the prostitutes in Hollywood and driving them to a remote area off the Antelope Valley Freeway, where the attacks took place.

Alkharsa, who was arrested May 4, 1985, missed a court appearance and eluded authorities for more than four months until he was recaptured last year when a bounty hunter working for a bail bondsman tracked him to a Van Nuys house.

In exchange for Alkharsa’s plea, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth A. Loveman agreed to drop eight other charges, including rape, oral copulation, kidnaping, robbery and assault. Alkharsa could receive a prison term of up to 9 years and 8 months when he is sentenced April 19, Loveman said.

Alkharsa was arrested during a 1985 stakeout by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on a utility road in Agua Dulce. When deputies approached his car, a 17-year-old prostitute screamed that she had just been raped, Loveman said.

Two other prostitutes later testified at preliminary hearings that Alkharsa had attacked them at the same location.

Misses Court Appearance

Alkharsa was free on $7,500 bail when he failed to appear in court on Jan. 15, 1986. Alkharsa, a Lebanese immigrant, later testified that he traveled to Beirut to visit his ailing mother two weeks earlier and could not return until June 2 because the airport in Beirut and roads to the airport were closed.

Ian L. Sitren, the bounty hunter who was hired by the firm that posted Alkharsa’s bond, testified that he tracked Alkharsa to a Van Nuys house last June 5. Sitren testified that Alkharsa’s girlfriend lead him to a converted garage where he found Alkharsa hiding in a bathroom.

As he drove Alkharsa to County Jail, Alkharsa offered him “any sum of money” in return for his release, Sitren testified.

Although Alkharsa testified that he was naturalized as a U. S. citizen on June 3, 1986, a district attorney’s investigator said the Immigration and Naturalization Service in February could find no record of Alkharsa’s citizenship. Officials for the INS were unable Wednesday to confirm Alkharsa’s citizenship.

Alkharsa testified that he planned to surrender to authorities after the INS completed his citizenship documentation on June 13, 1986. Alkharsa said he did not surrender earlier because he feared that pending charges would jeopardize his citizenship.