VAN NUYS : Rape Suspect Tied to Other Attacks

A Los Angeles man arrested as a rape suspect in Van Nuys over the weekend is being investigated in connection with six other rapes citywide, police said Monday.

Guillermo Mazariegos, 24, was arrested Saturday, hours after one of his alleged victims provided police with his name and address, police said.

The 27-year-old woman, who was abducted at knifepoint, memorized the information from an identification card in her attacker’s car, Los Angeles Police Lt. Harvie Eubank said.

Mazariegos was taken into custody at his home after police checked records and discovered that he had been arrested on suspicion of rape last year, Eubank said.

He was being held Monday at the Van Nuys Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

In the attack Saturday, the woman was approached as she waited for a bus near Van Nuys Boulevard and Vose Street by a man who lured her to his rented car by asking for directions, Eubank said.

Once the woman was close to the car window, the attacker held a knife with a five-inch blade to her throat and ordered her inside.

He drove her to a parking lot off San Fernando Road, ordered her to undress, undressed himself and then raped her, Eubank said.

Afterward, while the attacker stood outside the car to dress himself, the woman opened the glove compartment, saw the ID card with her attacker’s photograph and memorized the information.