Judge Refuses to Lower Rape Suspect’s $2-Million Bail : Crime: Police officer’s son is accused of assaulting four women and girls in the Valley.

A Van Nuys judge has refused to lower a $2-million bail for a Woodland Hills man accused of abducting and sexually assaulting four women and girls in the west San Fernando Valley.

The ruling by Van Nuys Municipal Judge Leland B. Harris came Tuesday during a hearing at which the arraignment for Howard August Davis was delayed until June 20.

In a criminal complaint filed Monday, prosecutors charged Davis with 37 felony counts stemming from four attacks in which the victims were abducted off the street and taken to isolated locations. Davis is accused of raping two 18-year-olds and a 17-year-old. He is also charged with kidnaping and sexually molesting a 10-year-old girl.

“They’re extremely serious offenses; therefore the person who commits such offenses is an extremely dangerous person,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin L. Herscovitz. “That’s why bail was set so high.”

The prosecutor also said the $2 million is a “conservative” bail amount. Herscovitz said he could have asked for as much as $4 million.

Davis is charged with kidnaping for sexual purposes, rape, forcible oral copulation, sodomy, digital penetration and child molestation. If convicted on all charges, he would face well over 300 years in prison, Herscovitz said.

Even though Davis did not formally deny the charges in court, defense attorney Peter L. Knecht of Los Angeles said his client is innocent.

“It’s a devastating charge--37 counts,” Knecht said. “But he indicates to me he’s not guilty (and) he wants to go to trial.”

Davis, a 29-year-old self-employed painter and son of a Beverly Hills police officer, kept his head lowered during the short proceeding.

“Things look bleak, but McMartin looked bleak,” Knecht said, referring to the ill-fated preschool case in which none of the seven people indicted on charges of molesting children were convicted.

Authorities said solid police work and some luck led to Davis’ arrest Friday, five days after he allegedly molested the 10-year-old girl. The arrest followed the distribution of composite drawings of the suspect and a description of a light-colored, small pickup truck used in all four attacks.

“I took a quick look at the composite. It doesn’t look at all like him,” Knecht said, showing reporters a photocopy of a drawing depicting a man whose facial features are similar to Davis’ but who appears to be Latino. Davis is white and has strawberry blond hair.

Police arrested Davis without incident near Ventura Boulevard and Sale Avenue on Friday night, two days after investigators realized a serial rapist was attacking young females in the West Valley.