USC Rapes Suspect Held Without Bail : Crime: Parolee pleads not guilty after being formally charged with assaulting three students near the campus.

Willie Damone Taylor, a convicted rapist paroled from prison just last month, was ordered held without bail Monday after he was formally charged with the rapes of three USC students.

Taylor, 28, entered not-guilty pleas to 21 felony counts stemming from the rapes, which triggered a wave of fear on the USC campus.

The three victims--all 20-year-old juniors--were attacked by an intruder who broke into their apartments near campus and tied them up, police said.

Prosecutors asked that Taylor be held without bail--an unusual request in a non-capital case--because he allegedly threatened to kill his victims if they reported their attacks to authorities.

“He threatened each of the three that if they reported the incident to police, he would come back and kill them,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrew J. McMullen said.

Municipal Judge Judith Adams granted the no-bail request. In response to a defense plea, however, the judge said bail could be reviewed at Taylor’s preliminary hearing, which was set for Oct. 15.

McMullen said the case against Taylor was strong because of fingerprints found at the scene of one of the assaults and a strong photo-lineup identification of the suspect by one of the rape victims.

A woman who identified herself as a former girlfriend of Taylor said she did not believe he committed the rapes.

“He said he didn’t do it,” said the woman, who attended the arraignment and did not want her name published. “I believe him.”

The first rape occurred Sept. 16 when an assailant opened a sliding glass door and entered an apartment on Shrine Place. He raped the woman who lived there and stole a small amount of money.

Ten days later, two roommates were raped by an intruder who broke in as the women slept. He tied up one roommate, raped the other, then tied her up and raped the first roommate.

Investigators said they were led to Taylor by fingerprints found at the second scene. He was arrested at a relative’s home in Pomona on Thursday.

Taylor, who police say has an arrest record dating to his teens, was paroled from state prison on Sept. 5 after serving 2 1/2 years of a six-year sentence for the 1985 rape of a Long Beach woman.

In a 14-page complaint, Taylor was charged Monday with 11 counts of forcible rape, three counts of sodomy by use of force, three counts of residential burglary, two of residential robbery and one count each of attempted residential robbery and penetration by a foreign object.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 120 years, McMullen said.