Sex Offender--a Fugitive--Taught a Rape Crisis Class

A Texas fugitive and convicted sex offender arrested at a Seal Beach athletic club had been teaching martial arts and rape-prevention techniques in Orange County, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Friday.

Scott Edwin Razor, 22, who was living in Santa Ana, was arrested Thursday shortly before his 7:30 p.m. martial arts class at the Rossmoor Athletic Club. Razor was scheduled to conduct a rape-prevention clinic March 28 at the club that would have been run with help from the Seal Beach Police Department, club owner Stephen Ellis said Friday.

Describing himself as “stunned” by the news of Razor’s background and arrest, Ellis said: “I basically feel we have tried to do something for the community, but apparently he duped us.”

Razor was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in Texas in 1984 and was wanted on a warrant from that state charging him with violating probation, said Lt. Richard J. Olson, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Olson said detectives began investigating Razor on March 3, two weeks before a fugitive warrant was issued in Texas. The local investigation began when a “concerned citizen” called the Sheriff’s Department to inquire whether Razor worked there, as he had claimed in a newspaper article that appeared in the Orange County Register.

Olson said records show that Razor had never worked for the department.

“This makes us look bad because he was teaching martial arts and saying he worked for the Sheriff’s Department,” Olson said. “We’re concerned because we don’t know how many people he said that to.”

He was arrested as soon as the Texas warrant turned up, Olson said.

“We had an investigation going, but we were not about to let him walk on the street once the warrant was released,” he said.

At the time of his arrest, Razor had a pair of handcuffs taped to his lower leg and was carrying a security badge, Olson said. Razor told authorities he worked as a security manager in Orange County for a large department store chain, Olson said, but that proved to be untrue.

Razor is scheduled to appear in court Monday and has said he will waive extradition proceedings, Olson said. He will be returned to San Antonio, Tex., to face charges.

Craig Spence, Razor’s attorney in the San Antonio sexual assault case, said he pleaded guilty to a first-degree felony involving an assault on a 11-year-old boy and served six months in a Texas prison before being released in 1985. He had been placed on 10 years’ probation, and after his release from prison he asked for a probation transfer to Virginia, where he listed a permanent address, Olson said.

“It appears he never went to Virginia and came to the West Coast,” Olson said.

Spence said Razor had served time in prison under a “shock program” intended to scare young felons away from a life in prison. He added that Razor now faces up to 10 years in prison on the probation violation charge.

“Except for (the sexual assault) incident, he had led a clean life,” Spence said.

Razor had taught judo at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, he said.

It is not known how long Razor had been teaching rape-prevention techniques, but he put on at least one seminar last year at the Knowledge Bank, an adult education center in Garden Grove.

Director Gail Gilman said Razor had not taught recently at the center but would not discuss his association with it further.

“I didn’t know him that well. I heard he had a studio (where he taught) martial arts,” Gilman said. “So I’m a little surprised.”

Ellis said that when Razor approached him last January about offering a karate class for adults he did not check his resume or in any way investigate his background.

“I did not,” Ellis said. “He said he worked for the police department doing seminars, self-defense for Los Angeles County--and I don’t remember if he was with some of the other police departments.”

What impressed him, Ellis said, was that Razor promised to bring his own students for the class.

“He said he had a class down in Orange County and was losing his space and he had 30 people he could bring to the class here,” Ellis said. “And he did bring a class with him.”

In January, Razor began teaching two karate classes--one held Tuesdays evenings and the other held Thursday evenings, Ellis said. There were 20 to 30 students in each class, Ellis said, with the students paying $35 each for the monthlong, once-a-week course.

Until he failed to show up last week, Razor was a popular teacher, Ellis said. “They were rather pleased with the class at first. . . . I heard nothing funny. All we heard was good reports from those people who took the class. They felt it was informative.”

Ellis added: “According to the students, he was good at what he did.”

Impressed by Razor’s work, Ellis said that in February, the club’s aerobics coordinator approached Razor about participating in a rape crisis clinic in late March that would be held jointly with the Seal Beach Police Department. It was meant to be “a good community service,” Ellis said.

Only in the last week were there hints of a problem, Ellis said. First Razor failed to show up for his two classes last week, and then, when he did stop by the club, “there were two sheriffs talking with him.”

After Friday’s arrest, Ellis said, he was worried that the reputation of his club might be harmed.

“We should have checked him out,” Ellis said. “Next time, I think what I’ll do is have a police check.”

Times staff writer Roxana Kopetman contributed to this story.