Sex offender charged with attacking women in Newport Beach break-in pleads not guilty

A registered sex offender recently arrested on suspicion of attacking two women during a Newport Beach burglary pleaded not guilty Monday to a range of felony charges stemming from the March 4 incident.

Navdeep Singh Jhaj, 32, of Orange, was charged Thursday with two counts of assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense in a first-degree burglary, one count of sexual penetration of an unconscious victim and failing to notify law enforcement within five days of a change of address, according to court documents.

He was taken into custody by Newport Beach police on Thursday, according to City News Service.

An online prison inmate locator maintained by the sheriff’s department indicated Jhaj was next scheduled to appear court in Newport Beach on March 21.

Jhaj has been listed on the Megan’s Law database of registered sex offenders since 2018, where his risk of reoffense has been placed as “above average.” Court records show he pleaded guilty in 2017 to one count of felony sexual battery, following an incident that took place on Oct. 4, 2015, and was sentenced to one year in jail and five years probation.

CNS reported that, as part of a plea deal, additional counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object and force and sexual penetration by foreign object under the belief the perpetrator is another person, along with a misdemeanor charge of touching an intimate part of another person, were dismissed.

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