Hubbard Faces 30 New Counts in Beach Crimes

Former San Diego Police Officer Henry Hubbard Jr., already charged in one beach attack, was arraigned Friday on 30 additional counts involving sex crimes, kidnaping and attempted robbery in a string of assaults last summer.

Eight of the new counts involve allegations of illegal sex acts with two girls 13 and 14 years old. The other counts include charges that he raped, kidnaped, sexually assaulted or robbed seven more women. Hubbard also is charged with robbing some of the victims’ male companions.

In all but one of the incidents, Hubbard allegedly used a handgun.

The arraignment followed an indictment unsealed Friday by a special grand jury seated Oct. 16 solely to consider criminal cases. Hubbard’s was the first criminal case in San Diego County heard by the special panel.

Hubbard, 29, pleaded not guilty to the 30 new counts and to the five counts of attempted murder and attempted robbery that had been filed against him before in the last attack, which led to his arrest. He was ordered to stand trial on the five counts after a preliminary hearing last week.

The crime rampage involved eight early-morning attacks from June to August along the beach from Solana Beach to Torrey Pines.

All 35 counts against Hubbard will be heard at one trial, which is scheduled to begin Feb. 19. Hubbard was a police officer who patrolled the general area at the time of the attacks. After his arrest, the 4 1/2-year veteran of the San Diego Police Department was fired.

Defense attorney Kerry Steigerwalt said Friday that Hubbard has appeared in two lineups, where he was viewed by several witnesses. Although prosecutors have refused to tell him the results of the lineups, he said, he learned that at least one witness picked Hubbard out as the assailant.

Prosecutors accuse Hubbard of beginning the crime rampage June 15, when he allegedly raped a woman and robbed her male companion, Jason Lee Hawkins.

The next assault occurred on July 4, when Hubbard allegedly raped, sexually assaulted, kidnaped and attempted to rob another woman. He is also charged with kidnaping and attempting to rob the woman’s male companion, Derek Zovanyi.

Two days later, a third woman was raped and her companion, Barry Stout, was robbed.

The assaults continued eight days later, on July 14, when Hubbard is charged with kidnaping, raping and sexually assaulting his fourth victim. This was the only incident in which Hubbard is not accused of using a handgun.

On July 19, Hubbard allegedly attempted to rob another woman, who was also sexually molested. He is also charged with robbing her male companion, Christopher Taylor.

The following night, July 20, Hubbard allegedly raped and committed lewd acts with two girls, 13 and 14 years old, and robbed the girls’ male companion, Johnny Contreras.

According to prosecutors, Hubbard waited until Aug. 10 to strike again. On that day, he allegedly attempted to kidnap and rob Licia Heffernan and John Lounsbery.

The final incident occurred on Aug. 15, when Hubbard allegedly shot Arthur Garcia, 23, and Aldo Ochoa, 21, during an attempted robbery. He was also charged with attempting to rob their female companion Charisma Carpenter, 21.

It was the Aug. 15 incident that led to Hubbard’s arrest. The attacker in that case was bitten on the ear and shot in the hand during a fight with Garcia and Ochoa.

That same morning, Hubbard went to a local hospital with a gunshot wound in the hand and a mangled ear, saying he had been attacked by robbers. Suspicious hospital officials called police investigators to report that an off-duty officer had been shot.

Friday’s indictment, which was unsealed by Superior Court Judge Frederic Link, was returned by the special criminal grand jury. Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Pent, head of the district attorney’s special operations unit, said the 19-member special panel might be seated until the end of the year to hear one more case.

News of the criminal grand jury’s existence came as a surprise to most observers, including defense attorney Steigerwalt. The special grand jury is authorized to hear only criminal matters and is separate from the watchdog grand jury, which was seated July 1 and is also made up of 19 members.

The special panel is led by foreman Everett McGlothlin, principal at Sarah Anthony School for children at Juvenile Hall.

Normally, a criminal defendant has to face a preliminary hearing, in which a Municipal Court judge decides whether there is enough evidence against him to stand trial. In past years, a defendant could be indicted by a grand jury, but the district attorney’s office was still required to persuade a judge at a preliminary hearing that there was enough evidence to warrant a trial.

This was changed by Proposition 115, which was passed by the voters in June, 1990. The measure threw out the requirement for a preliminary hearing after a grand jury hands down an indictment.

On Friday, Steigerwalt said the special criminal grand jury was authorized by emergency legislation passed by the Assembly and signed by Gov. Pete Wilson on Oct. 2.

The grand jury’s proceedings are secret, and Steigerwalt said he was not aware that the grand jurors were hearing evidence on Hubbard’s case until a few days ago. Steigerwalt said he does not yet know which witnesses testified before the grand jury or what evidence they examined.

Unlike in a preliminary hearing, defense attorneys are not allowed to cross-examine prosecution witnesses or look at the evidence presented by prosecutors at grand jury hearings.

“None of that was available to the defense in this proceeding. . . . The district attorney can put on any evidence he wants, including hearsay (which is not allowed in a criminal trial), without being challenged on it,” said Steigerwalt.

Judge Link ordered Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Anear, who is prosecuting Hubbard, to make a transcript of the grand jury proceedings available to the defense within 10 days.

Anear said the district attorney’s office decided to use the grand jury because of the nature of the attacks against the women and young girls.

“The preliminary hearing process would only add to that emotional trauma,” Anear said.

Beach Assaults

All victims were in their teens or early 20s. Assailant often bound victims with duct tape, attempted robbery in every case, sometimes attempted sexual assault. All of the attacks took place on the beach near the locations listed. 1. Saturday, June 15, 3 a.m.: 21st Street and Camino del Mar, Del Mar. Victims: a male and a female. Robbery and attempted rape. 2. Thursday, July 4, between 1-2 a.m.: South Sierra Avenue, Solana Beach. Victims: a male and a female. Robbery and sexual assault. 3. Saturday, July 6, 2 a.m.: 7000 block of Neptune Place (Windansea Beach), La Jolla. Victims: a male and a female. Robbery and sexual assault. 4. Friday, July 19, 2:19 a.m.: 800 South Sierra Ave., Solana Beach. Victims: a male and a female. Robbery and sexual assault. 5. Saturday, July 20, 2:45 a.m.: Neptune Place (Windansea Beach), La Jolla. Victims: a male and two females. Robbery and two sexual assaults. 6. Saturday, Aug. 10, 2:17 a.m.: Stratford Court, Del Mar. Victims: a male and a female. Attempted robbery; victims fled. 7. Thursday, Aug. 15, 3:50 a.m.: Torrey Pines State Beach. Victims: a female and two males. Attempted murder, attempted robbery and attempted sexual assault.