Additional Charges Denied in ‘Room for Rent’ Rapes

A San Carlos man accused of being the “Room for Rent Rapist” pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 17 felony sex charges involving attacks on five more women.

Kurt Newman, 33, has already been charged with 17 counts in assaults on four other women.

“This man has been preying on women in San Diego County since 1989, and the investigation is not complete,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Josephine Kiernan said in court.

In the charges filed Tuesday, Newman is accused of sexually assaulting two women after responding to newspaper ads seeking roommates. He is also charged with abducting one woman at gunpoint and with a masked attack on another woman in her bedroom. In the fifth attack, he allegedly knocked on a door and forced his way into the victim’s apartment.

All nine victims identified Newman in lineups, Kiernan said, adding that Newman used the same alias in three of the attacks. The assaults stretched from La Mesa to Carlsbad.

Municipal Judge Charles L. Patrick ordered Newman to produce a handwriting sample, which prosecutors believe will link him to another rape by a prospective renter.

“The investigation is definitely not over,” Kiernan said.

Newman is also charged with two counts of kidnaping for robbery, which carries a life sentence.

Newman, a bill collector who is married and has children, is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

A preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 10.