Sexual Predator Held in Motel Room Rape

A convicted sexual predator recently released from prison has been arrested on suspicion of raping a woman he met on the Internet, police said Thursday.

Daniel Zabuski, 39, was arrested Wednesday at his Canoga Park home and is being held in lieu of $1.2 million bail.

Zabuski is scheduled to be arraigned this morning in Burbank Municipal Court.

The woman, who is in her 30s, was raped March 10 in her room at the Burbank Quality Inn where she was living, police said.

She had met Zabuski through posted profiles on America Online and they had conversed for several days online before agreeing to meet, police said.

After the woman allowed Zabuski into her motel room, he allegedly attacked her, beating her to the floor and forcing her to have sex with him, said Burbank Det. Craig Ratliff. Although the woman never saw a weapon, her assailant told her he had one and threatened to kill her, police said.

America Online helped police identify Zabuski through his screen name, Ratliff said.

In January 1991, Zabuski pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a young woman and trying to rape another in Glendale. Authorities said Zabuski, using newspaper lists of recent high school graduates, called more than 50 women posing as a Hollywood talent scout. At least 10 accepted his offer to meet at a Glendale seafood restaurant, police said, and he assaulted two of them, an 18-year-old La Canada Flintridge woman and a Pasadena girl.

Police said Zabuski has also posed as a professional baseball player and a police officer, using various first names.

A now-retired Pasadena Superior Court judge dismissed a case against Zabuski in 1986 for allegedly raping a prostitute. Judge Gilbert Alston said he threw out the case because a prostitute could not be raped. The dismissal drew sharp criticism from attorney Gloria Allred and women’s rights groups.

Zabuski was also arrested in 1983 on suspicion of lewd conduct for allegedly calling teenagers he saw in a high school yearbook and offering them roles in pornographic films. He was convicted of molesting a girl the same year.

Zabuski was released from prison six months ago after serving nine years of a 10-year term.

“He is a dangerous individual,” Lt. Don Brown said. “This will be a ‘third strike’ and possibly more.”

Anyone with information about other victims is asked to call Burbank police at (818) 238-3246.