VENTURA : Transient Arrested as Kidnap, Rape Suspect

Ventura police arrested a 40-year-old transient Thursday in connection with the kidnaping and rape of a woman in the Ventura River bottom on the last day of the county fair.

Jerry Ferguson was taken into custody at the San Buenaventura State Beach parking lot around 9:50 a.m. after an unnamed person called police saying Ferguson resembled the description of the rapist.

When Officers Greg Hayes and John Snowling arrived in the parking lot, they found Ferguson and a woman sitting in a car near the snack bar.

Ferguson was arrested in the parking lot on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance and then taken to the Ventura Police Station where he was questioned by detectives.

Later, Ferguson was arrested on suspicion of kidnaping and three separate sex charges. He was being booked into Ventura County Jail on Thursday evening.

Ferguson is accused of kidnaping a 23-year-old Ventura woman Aug. 29 from the Ventura County Fairgrounds, after promising to get the woman a job dismantling the fair’s midway.

He then allegedly took her to the river bottom near the ocean, where he forced her to perform various sex acts during the night, police said.

Officer Hayes said Ferguson at first gave police a false name on Thursday, but later told them his real name. “He was calm and cooperative,” he said.