Man, 37, Indicted in Sexual Assaults

A man accused of committing a string of sexual assaults that outraged residents of the Ojai Valley was indicted Tuesday on 24 felony counts involving forcible sexual assault, burglary and robbery.

Kevin Richard Malone, 37, is scheduled to appear in Superior Court for arraignment Thursday, when a trial date will be set.

Prosecutors filed criminal charges last month against Malone, accusing him of sexually assaulting four women, breaking into another woman’s home and attempting to burglarize another residence.

The indictment by the Ventura County grand jury moves the case more quickly to trial and cancels a preliminary hearing that had been scheduled for April 25.

The sexual assaults Malone is charged with occurred between March and September of last year. The attacks frightened residents of the Ojai Valley, and community meetings were held to warn women how to protect themselves.

Malone, a twice-convicted prowler who has undergone treatment as a sex offender, is the second person to be charged with the sexual assaults. Prosecutors dropped charges against the first suspect after concluding that genetic testing of evidence excluded him as the assailant.

Malone is serving a seven-month jail sentence on a misdemeanor peeping conviction. He has been in custody since Jan. 22, when he was arrested for looking into a woman’s window at the Tradewinds Apartments in Ventura, officials said.