Suspect May Be Linked to 2 More Sexual Assaults

A day after Burbank police announced the arrest of a convicted sexual predator suspected of raping a woman last month, two more alleged victims have reported sexual assaults by the same man, police said Friday.

Daniel Zabuski, 39, was arrested Wednesday at his Canoga Park home on suspicion of raping a Burbank woman he met on the Internet. He pleaded not guilty Friday to rape, sodomy, assault and false imprisonment charges in the March 10 attack, said Roobina Badalian, a spokeswoman for Burbank Superior Court.

In the meantime, two other San Fernando Valley women told police they were sexually assaulted by Zabuski within the last six months, said Det. Craig Ratliff of the Burbank Police Department.

“We’ve had probably 20 calls from people who were contacted online and chose not to meet him,” Ratliff said. “Two of them did meet him and were sexually assaulted against their will.”

Zabuski’s attorney, James Barnes, declined to comment on his client’s plea or the new allegations.

One alleged attack occurred in March, when a 27-year-old woman that Zabuski had contacted through her posted profile on America Online met him at her home, Ratliff said.

The moment he was through the door, Zabuski allegedly ordered her to perform sexual acts and threatened to beat her, the detective said. In the other alleged assault, in November, Zabuski attacked a 28-year-old woman that he already knew, police said.

In both cases, the women provided police information about Zabuski that was not publicly known, such as his Internet name, Ratliff said. None of the alleged victims knew each other.

Zabuski, a registered sex offender, was released from prison in September after serving nine years of a 10-year sentence. He was convicted in 1991 of sexually assaulting two teenage girls after posing as a talent scout.

In 1986, a Pasadena Superior Court judge dismissed a case against Zabuski for allegedly raping a prostitute. The judge called the case merely “a breach of contract between a whore and trick,” triggering criticism from women’s rights groups.

Zabuski was convicted in 1983 of sexually molesting a girl and in 1979 of bribery, for demanding sexual favors from prisoners while working as a jailer.

“He’s been a predator for over 20 years,” Ratliff said, adding that police plan to present the new cases to prosecutors.

Zabuski is being held in lieu of $1.2-million bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 15 in Burbank Superior Court.