Suspected Park Rapist Faces Lineup

A man matching a description provided by the victims of three rapes and a robbery in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area was arrested after he was questioned by officers at a nearby city park, Los Angeles police said Monday.

Reynaldo Villatoro, 30, a native of El Salvador with no known address here, was arrested on suspicion of rape Saturday night at Delano Park in Van Nuys, Lt. Fred Nixon said. Villatoro is being held at the Van Nuys Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Police said Villatoro matches the description of a man believed to have attacked four women since July 17 in the recreation area, a sprawling park that stretches from the San Diego Freeway in Van Nuys to White Oak Avenue in Encino. The robbery victim was struck on the head from behind and robbed, police said.

Detective Sgt. Dave Dempsey said Monday that authorities will decide whether Villatoro will be charged in the incidents after the victims view the suspect in a lineup today.

Authorities have 48 hours, not including weekends, to charge an arrested suspect, meaning that Villatoro must be charged by the end of today or be released, Dempsey said.

Nixon said Villatoro was arrested about 6 p.m. Saturday by two officers on routine patrol on a street beside Delano Park. The small park at Delano Street and Noble Avenue is less than half a mile east of the Sepulveda recreation area.

“They noticed he generally fit the description of the suspect and stopped to question him,” Nixon said.

Nixon would release no further details on what led the officers to arrest Villatoro.

Police previously had described the attacker as an unkempt man who appeared to know his way around paths in the recreation area. Police had said that they suspected that he was a transient who lived in the heavy brush of the park.

The four attacks occurred during morning hours while women were walking or jogging. The rapes occurred July 17, Oct. 9 and Oct. 30, all Sundays, and the robbery took place Sept. 14, a Wednesday.