Local News in Brief : San Juan Capistrano : 17-Year-Old Charged With Attempted Rape

A 17-year-old San Juan Capistrano boy arrested last week on suspicion of indecent exposure and prowling was charged Tuesday on two counts of attempted rape, officials said.

The youth was arrested the night of Dec. 30 when Sheriff’s Department investigators on a stakeout found him in bushes looking into the window of an unoccupied condominium on Calle Arroyo near Sundance Drive, Sheriff’s Lt. Richard J. Olson said Tuesday.

The Sheriff’s Department did not report the arrest earlier because it involved an ongoing investigation, Olson said.

“We’re looking at him for other possible crimes, including two attempted rapes,” Olson said.

A Juvenile Court judge Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for the boy, who is held in Juvenile Hall, charging him with attempted rapes on Dec. 18 and 27, Olson said.

The boy’s name is being withheld because of his age, Olson said.

Investigators began a stakeout in the area after two attempted rapes earlier in December--one Dec. 18 by the bicycle trail off Calle Arroyo and Paseo Esteban at San Juan Creek and the other Dec. 27 near the Marco Forester School. Both daylight incidents involved a young man who exposed himself, then grabbed women passers-by. The suspect fled when the women screamed. Neither victim was injured, Olson said.