Rape Suspect Held on Bail of $500,000

A Ventura man jailed on suspicion of rape and burglary is being held on $500,000 bail because he is being investigated in a string of offenses in California and Wisconsin that may lead to additional felony charges, a prosecutor said Friday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jacqueline Tilkens argued in court that Hugh Lyons McCafferty should be held without bail.

“The current charges are very serious,” Tilkens said. “It needed to be done for the safety of our community.”

McCafferty was scheduled to be arraigned Friday, but Ventura Superior Court Judge Edward Brodie ordered a week’s postponement, Tilkens said.

The delay gives the public defender a chance to review the case and prosecutors time to research additional charges, Tilkens said.

McCafferty, 37, is the prime suspect in another sexual assault and burglary that occurred in Pierpont, authorities said.

Additionally, police suspect McCafferty in burglaries in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara and are looking at possible connections between him and other unsolved sex and property crimes in Ventura County, Tilkens said.

“Based on his M O, it’s likely it could involve cases from all of Ventura County,” the prosecutor said. “I believe further investigation will lead to other charges.”

McCafferty is accused of breaking into a Pierpont motel room in early April and raping a young woman, and breaking into a Pierpont house two weeks ago where a couple were sleeping, she said.

McCafferty and the male resident of the house allegedly struggled, police said.

McCafferty of east Ventura was previously convicted of burglary and sexual assault in Jamesville, Wis., and at the time of his arrest in Ventura, was named in a fugitive warrant from Wisconsin, police said.

Police believe McCafferty allegedly targets blond women who frequent tanning salons.