Convicted Rapist Held in Recent Attacks

A convicted child rapist, just five months out of prison, has been charged with the kidnapping and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl and the abduction and attempted rape of a 16-year-old girl.

The suspect, Gary Maurice Townes, 31, of Long Beach, appeared in Compton Municipal Court Monday and pleaded not guilty.

Police arrested Townes Thursday following a traffic stop in South Los Angeles. The car he was driving had expired registration tags, police said.

Townes had been released from prison in June after serving 10 years of a 20-year sentence for kidnapping and rape of a minor.

Based on the two victims’ accounts to police, Townes pretended to be working on his car near schools in southeastern Los Angeles and struck up conversations with the schoolgirls, who were walking alone.

On Nov. 2, police said, Townes forced the 16-year-old into his car at knifepoint and attempted to rape her. He was charged with kidnapping and assault with the intent to commit illegal sex acts and assault with a deadly weapon.

Six days later, police said, he abducted the 11-year-old, using a screwdriver as a weapon, and raped her. He is charged with kidnapping, rape and a lewd act against a child.

Capt. Charlie Beck, of the LAPD’s Southeast Division, would not say where the girls go to school. But, he said, they were abducted in the area of San Pedro and 118th streets, near Locke High School.

Both girls identified Townes as their kidnapper.

During a news conference Monday, Beck asked for the community’s help in bringing forward other possible victims of the convicted child molester.

“He is in custody,” Beck said. “But we’re not so naive as to think these are the only incidents involved.”

Townes is described as a light-skinned, African American man who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighs 170 pounds and wears a 4-inch braided ponytail in the back of his closely cropped hair.

Townes was registered as a child sex offender in Long Beach, his home area, as required by law, Beck said. Police often notify schools in the vicinity of the sex offender’s residence. But because he did not live nearby, schools in southern Los Angeles would not have been notified, Beck said.