OJAI : Arraignment in Assault Case Delayed
An unemployed construction worker who was charged with sexually assaulting elderly women in Ojai was held Friday in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail, awaiting his arraignment Sept. 15.
Peter A. Stocks, 38, appeared in Ventura County Municipal Court on Friday, but his arraignment was continued by Judge Bruce A. Clark.
Clark also increased the bail from $100,000 to $500,000 for Stocks, a longtime Ventura County resident who most recently lived in his car in the Ojai area.
Stocks, who was arrested Wednesday in Ojai, is charged with 15 counts, including sexual battery, forcible sex acts, elder abuse and residential burglary with special allegations of great bodily injury.
Stocks is suspected of sexually assaulting three elderly women in Ojai and Ventura since June, prosecutors said. The assailant entered the homes through an open door or window in each case.
The first attack occurred June 20 when a 76-year-old woman who lives alone in an east Ventura mobile home park was sexually assaulted.
On July 13, an 89-year-old resident of an Ojai retirement community was bound and assaulted, having been tied up for more than 12 hours before a neighbor found her, police said. She spent weeks recovering in a hospital.
A 70-year-old woman was assaulted Aug. 1 in a Ventura mobile home park.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
