Teen Is Accused of Sexual-Assault Spree

He is accused of terrorizing a neighborhood for two solid months: pedaling through Newbury Park on a small chrome dirt bike and wearing a black ski mask as he grabbed joggers, sexually assaulted a teenage boy on a high school campus and raped a woman in the high school bathroom.

Those details emerged this week in a juvenile court hearing as investigators laid the blame for the alleged crime spree on an 18-year-old Newbury Park man, who now faces 21 charges including rape, sexual battery and assault.

In all, there were five attacks, deputies testified. Two allegedly took place on the campus of Newbury Park High School after school hours.

Judge Charles R. McGrath is expected to decide at the end of the hearing next week whether the teen, who was 17 at the time of the alleged attacks, should face charges as an adult, which could bring more serious penalties.

The teen is not being named because he was a juvenile at the time of the alleged offenses. Deputy Public Defender James Harmon, who is representing the teenager, said the identity of the masked perpetrator would be an issue as the case unfolds.

On Thursday and Friday, Det. Kent Adlof of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department testified about his investigation into the string of assaults, which occurred during a 10-week period between Sept. 3 and Nov. 11, 1996.

The attacks all occurred within a quarter-mile of each other in a residential area of Newbury Park, he told McGrath.

They all involved a young assailant, described by witnesses and victims as between 16 and 20, who wore a black ski mask and rode a small chrome dirt bike, Adlof testified.

In addition, the victims all identified their attacker by his “strikingly” blue eyes and pale pink skin, Adlof said.

The 18-year-old charged with the crimes was arrested by authorities who said he matched a composite drawing of the assailant. He was later picked out of a photo lineup.

On Sept. 3, deputies said, he followed a young woman walking to a shopping center at the corner of Orchard and Reino roads, where he grabbed her and pinned her to the wall of an abandoned bank building.

He then sexually assaulted her, but was scared away by someone who saw the attack, Adlof said.

A week later, authorities say, the teen followed and attacked a jogger running at night near Borchard Park. When the woman tried to run away, he sped up on his bike and rammed into her, Adlof said.

Also in that case, a witness heard the woman’s cries and yelled, scaring the attacker away, he said.

The third attack happened three nights later when a jogger was tackled by a masked assailant into the bushes along Reino Road. The attacker started to molest the woman, but was frightened away by approaching car headlights.

On Oct. 26, a 14-year-old boy attending a Saturday class at Newbury Park High School was sexually assaulted during a recess.

The fifth sexual assault occurred on Nov. 5 when a female student taking night classes at Newbury Park High was raped in the stall of a school bathroom.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Frawley plans to call at least four more witnesses in the case. The hearing is expected to conclude next week.