Ex-Policeman Denies Attempted Kidnaping
A former Torrance police officer accused of assaulting a Lancaster woman pleaded not guilty Friday to a felony charge of attempted kidnaping in Antelope Municipal Court.
Roland Sabara, 35, also faces misdemeanor charges of battery and false imprisonment for allegedly grabbing a 25-year-old woman and trying to force her into his car in Lancaster on Jan. 31. Sabara, who lives in Lancaster, was off duty at the time of the incident.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it arrested Sabara after a woman was accosted as she entered her car in the 200 block of West Avenue I. The woman, whose name was withheld, struggled free, shut her car door and drove to a nearby auto repair shop, where witnesses called police.
Witnesses said Sabara had earlier harassed several other women in the area that afternoon, including four girls from nearby Antelope Valley High School.
Sabara, who was a former sheriff’s deputy and a six-year member of the Torrance Police Department, resigned from the Torrance force on Feb. 14.
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