Transient Held in Alleged Kidnapping, Assault

Deputies investigating an illegally parked car near Mugu Rock arrested a 38-year-old Ventura County man and freed two teenage girls who said the man had kidnapped them in Oxnard, robbed them and sexually assaulted one of them, authorities said Tuesday.

Ernest Harrold, an unemployed transient wanted for allegedly violating the terms of his parole for a previous robbery conviction, remains in Ventura County Jail on suspicion of sexual assault, kidnapping and robbery.

“He has a pretty extensive rap sheet,” said Capt. Mark Ball with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. “He has priors for burglary, kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault.”

Ball credited Deputies Shawn Bartlett and Robert Hull with rescuing the girls, ages 16 and 19, on Monday night.

It was the second time in 11 days a Ventura County man is suspected of terrorizing women in their cars. A 31-year-old El Rio man is in custody after he allegedly rammed four women’s cars between Moorpark and Camarillo over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and then raped one of his victims.

Monday’s incident began about 10:30 p.m. as the two girls were about to get into a car in a parking lot in the 2500 block of Saviers Road after finishing work, Ball said. Harrold held a knife to the younger girl’s throat while directing her elder sister to drive to Mugu Rock, a local landmark next to Pacific Coast Highway south of Oxnard, authorities said.

Once there, deputies said, he bound the pair and sexually assaulted the 16-year-old. He then drove a short distance and allegedly assaulted the younger girl again. He also robbed the two of jewelry, the victims told sheriff’s deputies.

After the assaults, he told the two victims to get back in the car, which was in a “No Parking” zone, Ball said.

When Hull and Bartlett decided to check why the car was illegally parked, one of the two girls attempted to attract the deputies attention. The deputies ordered the two out of the car and were told of their ordeal.

Harrold was arrested without incident and a knife was found on the front seat of the car where he had been sitting.

Harrold was being sought for failing to contact his probation officer in Oxnard after being released from prison Oct. 7, said Deborah Star, regional administrator for the California Department of Corrections parole division.

He had served an eight-month prison term for parole violations that included possessing a knife and prowling, Star said. He also served four months in 1995 for parole violations that included using marijuana, she said.

He went to prison in 1990 after being convicted of second-degree robbery and served half of a 10-year sentence, Star said.

Harrold had been jailed for robbery twice before, both as a juvenile and adult, and also had a kidnapping charge on his record, she said.