Suspected Serial Rapist Arrested

A Canoga Park man who authorities allege terrorized women in a series of sexual attacks over the past year has been arrested on suspicion of raping three women just a few blocks from his apartment, officials said Monday.

“We want to let the public know this person’s off the streets,” said Capt. Bruce Crosley of the LAPD’s Devonshire Division. Authorities plan to charge Francisco Najerra Plata with 11 counts of sexual assault and three other felonies related to the rapes.

Police said that Plata, 21, who has described himself to authorities as a laborer born in Cuernavaca, Mexico, is responsible for three rapes that occurred between Dec. 14, 1995, and Jan. 8--all near Canoga Avenue and Chase Street, where he lived.

Police are also investigating six other rapes, dating back to June, that were similar to the attacks allegedly committed by Plata. In all nine incidents, the women were attacked at night as they were getting in or out of their cars or as they returned home, where an assailant was hiding, Crosley said. In some instances, the attacker fled with valuables, such as jewelry and home appliances, after the assaults.

The six rapes police are still investigating occurred near Parthenia Street and the San Diego Freeway. Said chief investigator Det. Jesse Castillo: “You can almost say they were like clusters.”

Plata was arrested Thursday at about 8 a.m., when detectives, after an extensive investigation, tracked him down at his apartment complex in the 21300 block of Roscoe Boulevard, Crosley said.

Plata apparently spotted the officers and tried to climb out of a second-story window but retreated inside when he saw officers waiting for him below, Crosley said.

Another resident of the complex let police inside, and Plata was arrested without incident, said Crosley, who described Plata as “evasive and uncooperative” since the arrest.

Investigators were able to find Plata using fingerprints he allegedly left Jan. 8 in an apartment in the 20900 block of Parthenia Street, Crosley said. In that incident, a 23-year-old woman was returning home when she was ambushed by an assailant who blindfolded and sexually assaulted her in her home, Crosley said.

Criminalists from the Scientific Investigation Division went through the apartment and were able to obtain fingerprints that matched those of Plata from a file of a previous misdemeanor trespassing arrest, Crosley said.

Officials hope other women who believe they may have been assaulted by Plata will come forward.

“Sexual assaults are one of the least-reported crimes,” said Castillo, adding that some victims may have been immigrants who might be hesitant to call the police.