Tests Confirm Link in Series of Simi Rapes

As they continue their search for a serial rapist, Simi Valley police have matched genetic material obtained in three of eight rape cases, giving them their first physical link between the crimes.

Based on the method of operation and physical description in the cases, detectives have long believed that they were searching for one man, Sgt. Andrew McCluskey said.

The rapist is responsible for five sexual assaults and three rapes that occurred between June 1996 and May, McCluskey said.

The genetic match was made from semen, blood or saliva that was left on three of the victims, McCluskey said. In some of the cases, genetic material wasn’t available.

The genetic profile obtained was compared with state and federal DNA files, which are much like fingerprints--but no match was made, the sergeant said.

This means that the rapist possibly hasn’t been convicted of a sexual crime.

Meanwhile, Simi Valley police want to talk with Los Angeles officers investigating a serial rapist who has struck at least five times in the western San Fernando Valley since March 29.

McCluskey said there is a similarity between the most recent rape in Simi Valley on May 4 and the method of operation in the San Fernando Valley attacks.

In a majority of the Valley cases, the rapist forced his victims to drive to a secluded location, where the attacks occurred.

In a majority of the Simi Valley assaults, the rapist broke into his victims’ homes. But in the May 4 incident, which is one of the cases with a match, the rapist forced his 25-year-old victim to drive to a secluded location.

“We’ve seen a change in his method of operation,” McCluskey said of the Simi rapist. “We are very interested in the progress of their [LAPD] cases.”

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It’s a mantra that fraud investigators utter constantly: If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

Yet people continue to be taken in by scam artists pushing everything from get-rich-quick pyramid schemes to bogus winning lottery tickets.

So far this year, victims of con games in Ventura County have lost more than $40,000 and the scams haven’t ended.

The most recent bunco happened in Oxnard last month when a 34-year-old woman paid $2,000 in cash for a worthless hunk of metal.

The woman was walking on South A Street when a man approached and asked if she wanted to buy some gold about the size of a matchbox. Before she could decide, a second man walked up and paid the seller $3,000 for it.

After witnessing the sale, the woman believed that the gold was real, police said. She then withdrew $2,000 from her savings and bought the gold piece from the new owner.

When the woman went to have the purchase appraised, she learned that the metal was worthless, police said.

“It’s a very popular and common scam, and we’ve seen it dozens and dozens of times over the years,” police spokesman David Keith said.

In nearly every case, the victims are people who speak only Spanish.

Keith said only a few cases are reported to police because victims are embarrassed to admit that they were taken.

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Simi Valley Police Lt. Don Austin has made some dramatic career changes over the years. But his latest move is a real leap of faith.

As a young new officer in Redlands in the early ‘70s, Austin thought that he would fight crime forever.

But he quit after three years and returned to managing a discount department store. Hey, what can you say; he loved retail, he said.

His desire for law enforcement returned after a couple of years, however. In 1974, he was hired by the Simi Valley Police Department, where he has worked for the last 25 years.

During his career, he was instrumental in bringing updated computers to the station and helping train supervisors.

Now he’s leaving to be a pastor.

Last month, after years of working for a master’s degree in divinity studies, Austin was appointed to lead the 80-member congregation that is Pearblossom Community United Methodist Church.

Next month, he officially retires from police work, leaving crime fighting to become a full-time man of the cloth in a dusty little desert town in the Antelope Valley.

Meanwhile, he works both jobs. Preacher by day and cop by night.

“It’s something that I’m still getting used to, but I’m excited about it,” he said of his work on the pulpit.

The 53-year-old Palmdale resident, a towering mountain of a man with a genial demeanor and mild Tennessee twang, says police work and preaching are both about helping people.

Austin’s colleagues on the force say they have no doubt that he will be effective in delivering the word.

“He’s a big guy, a real big guy,” Lt. Rex Jones said. “They’ll listen to him when he talks.”

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While many young adults were riding waves and hanging out at movie theaters last month, 37 youngsters interested in law enforcement careers spent the month of July attending a police explorers academy in Camarillo.

The boys and girls, ages 14 to 21, did sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups, and ran obstacle courses. They worked side by side with real cops in simulated traffic scenes.

There were uniform inspections and classes on radio codes, criminal law, human relations, and arrest and search procedures.

The annual academy ran eight hours a day, five days a week. The students were expected to arrive each day in a pressed uniform carrying daily memos about their studies.

On Friday, cadets graduated from the Ventura County Law Enforcement Explorer Academy in a ceremony attend by dozens of top law enforcement officials.

The youths will now go onto volunteer at police and sheriff’s stations, where they will do fingerprinting, register bicycles and help with traffic control at major events, Simi Valley Police Officer Don Anderson said.

“There is some incredible growth that happens with these kids and there’s a lot of dedication,” he said.

Wolcott can be reached by e-mail at holly.wolcott@latimes.com