Suspect Held in Watts Sex Assault

Residents at the Colden Oaks apartment complex in Watts are used to the sight of police cars in their neighborhood.

But a crime that occurred Saturday afternoon shocked even longtime residents hardened by years of gang violence.

Near a grassy common area inside the complex’s gates, a 14-year-old boy allegedly sexually assaulted an 11-year-old boy at knifepoint. The boy’s friend also was attacked but managed to escape.

Police on Monday announced the arrest of the alleged attacker, whom they did not identify, and who they say had been convicted and sentenced to probation for sexually assaulting another boy last year.

He was arrested at his aunt’s home 15 blocks away after a search involving up to 40 police officers, forensics experts and bloodhounds.

Detectives are now investigating whether the teenager had molested his 7-year-old niece hours before the attacks on the boys.

“This is a terrible tragedy for everyone involved,” said Deputy Chief Earl Paysinger of the Los Angeles Police Department. “The suspect’s age only compounds the tragedy.”

The victim was playing in the common area of the apartment complex with an 11-year-old friend about 1 p.m. Saturday, when the attacker dragged him to an area behind a nearby building and assaulted him, Paysinger said. The second boy was struck by the attacker but managed to get away and alerted adults.

Residents of the three-story apartment complex on Colden Avenue said the alleged attacker was known around the complex because he visited often. They said they thought his father’s girlfriend lived there.

A 16-year-old resident of the complex who knew the alleged attacker said the teen often acted impulsively.

“I knew he’d do stupid stuff, but not stuff like this,” she said Monday. “I wanted to ask him, ‘Why’d you do this?’ ”

LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon said the alleged attacker may have drifted from relative to relative, which would have made it difficult for him to serve a 10-year home probation sentence for the sexual assault conviction. He also was sentenced in January to another 10 years of home probation in a robbery case.

Vernon said the alleged attacker had never served any jail time.

Other residents of the complex said they were shocked and saddened by the crime.

Arlitha James said she submitted an application Monday to relocate to a different affordable-housing complex.

“If I have to go that far to protect my children, I will,” said James, whose 10-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter sometimes played with the victim. On some days, as many as 15 children from Colden Oaks played together on the lawn, she said.

“I don’t think it’s fair to force children to stay in all day because of this,” James said, adding that she enrolled her children in an upcoming YMCA self-defense class and bought them whistles to carry and use in case someone tries to attack them.

James described the apartment community as friendly, saying residents recently held a barbecue for neighbors to meet one another.

An off-white stucco building trimmed by teal metal rails and gates, the Colden Oaks apartment complex stands out among the slightly run-down one-story homes that line Colden Avenue near Broadway.

The gates of the apartment have always given residents a sense of security.

Tamika Cowart regularly hears sirens at night but was shocked when she saw police blocking her own building and street.

“It freaked me out, all the police cars. It’s something you see on TV, not where you live,” she said.

Acting on tips from residents in the neighborhood, detectives learned where the suspect was hiding a day after the attacks. He was armed with a knife similar to the one described by the boys and put up some resistance, Vernon said.

The teenager was arrested on suspicion of sodomy on a child under the age of 14 and may also be charged with kidnapping and aggravated assault.