Man Sought in Rape of Woman, 57

Authorities are searching for a man who sexually assaulted a 57-year-old woman in her home early Thursday, less than a month after another woman was similarly attacked at her residence near the center of town.

Thursday’s rape marks the third sexual assault reported since Jan. 25 within a several-block radius in the older section of the city, near Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Conejo School Road.

“I’m freaked, I’m very freaked,” said one woman, a neighbor of the victim, who requested anonymity.

The most recent victim, who lives in the Camelot condominium complex, was sleeping in her bedroom when a man broke through her sliding-glass door just before 2:30 a.m., said Sgt. Frank O’Hanlon of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

The woman confronted the intruder in her living room. He overpowered her and began to simultaneously choke and rape her, O’Hanlon said.

A neighbor, who had heard the breaking glass and the woman’s screams, called out to see if she was all right, and the man fled on foot, O’Hanlon said. A police dog was brought to the scene but lost the rapist’s scent in the area of Live Oak Street.

The man’s description is similar to one given in a Jan. 25 rape of a 64-year-old woman at the nearby Thunderbird Oaks mobile home park, O’Hanlon said. That victim was attacked at about 10 p.m. in her home and choked during the assault.

The two men “possibly” are the same person--a man in his early 20s, described as clean-shaven, with a dark complexion and short, black hair, O’Hanlon said.

The man involved in Thursday’s attack was injured on the right side of his head, which the victim said bled moderately, he said.

O’Hanlon said he believes that man lives in the area and stakes out his victims, specifically seeking women who live alone. “I think he’s peeping and prowling at night,” O’Hanlon said.

The man in Thursday’s rape, however, is not responsible for a sexual assault earlier this week.

On Tuesday, a woman met two men in a nearby bar and agreed to accompany them to an auto-repair shop, where she was assaulted, authorities said. Andrew Long, 28 and Gary Taylor, 32, both of Thousand Oaks, have been arrested in connection with that crime.

“The majority of rapes are acquaintance rapes,” such as Tuesday’s incident, O’Hanlon said. The assaults at the Camelot and Thunderbird Oaks housing complexes, “where a stranger preys upon a stranger,” are less common, he said. Thousand Oaks averages about 20 rapes a year.

Several women who live in Camelot, a 180-unit condominium complex built in the mid-80s as affordable housing, say infrequent police patrols, close proximity to a park that attracts suspicious people at night, and an ongoing construction project at the complex make them vulnerable to crime.

Marie Smith said she was mugged last year while walking one of her dogs in El Parque de la Paz (“The Park of Peace”). While she was not sexually assaulted, “I was beaten to a pulp,” said Smith, adding that she now avoids the park, mere steps from her home, preferring to walk her two dogs inside the complex.

News of Thursday’s rape inside a Camelot unit, however, gave Smith pause about her new routine. “That makes me scared to death,” she said.

Another woman, who declined to give her name, said she often notices suspicious people in the park, especially at night. She says she never goes there without carrying a weapon, including a knife.

Her biggest complaint, however, is that Camelot and the park are not patrolled enough by law enforcement personnel. She said that after last month’s rape at the Thunderbird Oaks mobile home park, she sat on a friend’s balcony overlooking the park and waited for a police car to arrive. It took three hours, she said.

Capt. Arve Wells said sheriff’s deputies, who serve as Thousand Oaks police department, do their best to cover the city of about 112,000. And often when a problem reoccurs in an area, undercover deputies are sent in to make arrests. Uniformed deputies avoid the targeted areas to avoid tipping off potential suspects with black-and-white patrol cars.

“There’s a lot more patrol than people see,” Wells said.

Adding to Camelot residents’ fear is a construction project that began in early January. The homeowners’ association is replacing the patio walls, leaving formerly enclosed areas exposed.

“It would be good to hire security guards during the construction,” said Lisa Kort, a new mother who lives in Camelot. “I’ve always felt safe, but now I’m going to think twice.”

Lance Marsh, property manager for the Camelot Homeowners Assn., said the only effective security system would be to pay a security guard to walk the complex. At $20 an hour, the protection is just too expensive for the association. He said he would recommend starting a Neighborhood Watch program.

Jennifer Ziegler, a Camelot resident who likes to stroll through the park with her 8-month-old son and 8-month-old niece--and her large dog--said she has become used to seeing homeless men mulling around the park and in her complex.

“I think it’s getting worse,” she said. “I mean, how often do you hear about rape in Thousand Oaks?”