Countywide : Stranded Driver Is Victim of Rape Try

A man driving a white van tried to rape a woman at knifepoint after her car broke down on the side of the Ventura Freeway in Camarillo, sheriff’s deputies said Wednesday.

The incident occurred about 9 a.m. Tuesday after the woman had engine trouble in the southbound lanes and pulled to the side of the freeway to use a telephone call box near Camarillo Springs Road.

Deputies said the driver of a Ford Aerostar van drove up behind the woman’s car after she called for a tow truck.

The victim, a 24-year-old Oxnard woman, told deputies that the driver of the van offered assistance.

She initially refused, but then decided to open the passenger door of her car, authorities said.

The man drew a knife to her throat and began to remove her clothes, deputies said.

The woman escaped harm after the tow truck arrived and frightened her attacker off, authorities said.

Deputies are seeking a man described as Asian, in his 30s, five feet 10 inches tall with a mustache. He was wearing a light brown checkered sports jacket, authorities said.

Anyone with information should call the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department at 654-2331.