San Clemente’s Postcard Image Shattered by Rapes

Until recently, residents of this seaside village never gave much more than a passing thought to nightly news reports of rape, murder and gang violence in the big city. Things like that just didn’t happen in this coastal community that enjoyed a time of fame as Richard M. Nixon’s presidential retreat.

But the bubble burst six months ago when a serial rapist, who binds and gags his victims, appeared seemingly out of nowhere, creating terror in this small town of postcard views. He has struck four, possibly five times since October, causing residents to take drastic measures.

Women are sleeping with baseball bats under their beds, refusing to venture outdoors alone in broad daylight out of fear that they will become the next victim. Fathers are leaving their teen-age daughters at home with semiautomatic handguns, telling them not to stop at one bullet.

“Have we disturbed a burial ground or what?” asked Mayor Candace Haggard, who has lived in San Clemente since 1974. “I don’t ever remember anything similar to this. It’s very frightening.”

Then, in another shocking development that sent new tremors through the town of 41,000, the county district attorney announced that one of the city’s own police officers has been charged with raping one woman and assaulting two others, once while he was on active duty and in uniform.

David Wayne Bryan, 32, was arrested after a 21-year-old woman complained to authorities that she had been a victim of “date rape” by Bryan. Later, after reading a newspaper article about the investigation of the officer, two other women came forward.

Authorities said Friday they have found no connection between the attacks allegedly committed by Bryan and those by the serial rapist. However, the unprecedented rash of rapes in a town of just 17 square miles has prompted many to wonder aloud: “What is happening in San Clemente?”

From beauty shops to pawnshops, the puzzling string of rapes has become the talk of this town just north of the San Diego County border and Camp Pendleton. Some residents draw comparisons to the Night Stalker terror of the 1980s, when California houses were locked up tight in the middle of heat waves.

“A lot of people are wondering what has happened to our small, little town, and they can’t believe this is happening here,” said Diane Day, who owns a beauty salon.

Police Chief Albert C. Ehlow, a 29-year veteran of the 50-officer department, admitted that he is just as puzzled.

“I have no idea what’s happening. I don’t have any answer,” he said. “We’ve had the cases that we believe were committed by the same individual, but we’ve had others that are not related, like one involving an 80-something-year-old woman.”

Rapes are up 300% over last year. Since Jan. 1, Ehlow said, there have been six sexual assaults and two attempts. In a city such as Los Angeles, where violent crime is an everyday occurrence, eight sexual attacks would hardly be considered major news. But in close-knit San Clemente, where many police officers know the exact names of most businesses, the rapes have had a chilling effect.

Most recently, the bitter irony of a police officer’s arrest on rape charges in light of recent events is not lost on San Clemente residents.

“Here you have our police force out trying to stem the tide of this alleged serial rapist,” San Clemente High School Principal James F. Krembas said, “and we have a situation with one of our own officers.”

Telephone calls have been pouring into the county’s rape awareness hot line. “We’ve had quite a few calls from women who are having resurgent memories and flashbacks about their own sexual assaults,” said Marie Moore, executive director of the Orange County Sexual Assault Network.

“We are also getting lots of calls about what women can do to protect themselves and about the self-defense classes we organize,” she said.

Meanwhile, a local pawnshop owner said there has been a dramatic increase in the number of women shopping for guns. “But to be honest, I’d rather they buy a deadbolt lock or a good burglar alarm,” said Doug Braunschweig, a salesman in the shop. “I don’t mind selling guns to people who are shooters, but I don’t suggest it for people who aren’t.”

The series of rapes began in October, when a man in a van abducted a 29-year-old mentally retarded woman near Interstate 5 and Avenida Pico. He blindfolded, gagged and bound her before sexually molesting her, police said.

Two weeks later, a 13-year-old girl was raped in her home in the nearby upscale Broadmoor subdivision at about 8:30 p.m. Her attacker apparently entered through an unlocked front door.

Police said the man bound the girl’s hands with braiding from her brother’s military uniform and used a necktie to blindfold and gag her. He reportedly fled out the front door when the victim’s mother returned.

Three months passed before the third attack. On Feb. 4, a 19-year-old woman had just turned off the lights in her home to go to bed when an intruder entered through an unlocked sliding glass door.

The assailant tied the woman’s hands with an electrical cord from an alarm clock, blindfolded her with a T-shirt and gagged her with a sock before demanding to know where her money was kept. Police said he then took her into another room and raped her while holding a knife to her throat.

About two weeks later, a 26-year-old woman was attacked outside of her Avenida del Mar apartment as she returned from work at about 1:15 a.m. When she unlocked her front door, police said, a man grabbed her from behind and shoved her inside. The attacker reportedly bound her hands, gagged her and raped her for about 15 minutes.

Then on March 5, a young woman whose age was withheld by investigators was attacked at home about 10 p.m. Police said the attacker apparently broke into her residence while she was alone.

Authorities initially suspected that all five attacks were committed by the same man. But Ehlow said Friday that investigators now believe that the first case involving the mentally retarded woman might have been committed by someone else--hardly a comforting thought for San Clemente residents.

“It’s made the women prisoners in their own homes,” said James Farley, senior pastor at San Clemente Presbyterian Church, who lives in Broadmoor. “We have to accept the fact that we’re not living in the protective shadow of some seaside village anymore, where we don’t have to worry about things changing.”

Officer Bryan has been on paid leave since January, when police and the district attorney received a complaint from the woman who accused Bryan of date rape.

Prosecutors allege that the officer attacked the woman Jan. 27 and another woman two days later. They would only say that the third woman was allegedly assaulted between January and February 1989. In that incident, he is alleged to have accosted the victim while on duty.

“There have been rumors that the attackers were one and the same, but of course that’s not true,” said Karolyn Koester, a former mayor. “People are only human to try to connect something with something else.”

Yet for most residents, the current series of rapes is more troubling for other reasons. The attacks are painful reminders that their tranquil suburban community, whose motto is “Spanish Village by the Sea,” is rapidly vanishing.

“Are we becoming a Santa Ana?” asked Howard Revie, a member of the city Planning Commission. “What I hear frequently is not so much when are they going to catch this guy, but what’s happening to our lifestyle?”

Times correspondent Terry Spencer contributed to this report.