Police Seek Leads in Series of Rapes

ORANGE COUNTY —  Officers said Wednesday that they are hunting for a serial rapist who is believed to have sexually assaulted at least four teenage girls, including two sisters, in the last year.

The man, believed to be in his 20s or late teens, has struck in daylight in several upscale neighborhoods across Orange County, targeting girls as young as 13. The rapist is also suspected of attacking a Seal Beach woman in her 40s.

The first known attack took place in August in Tustin, when the man, armed with a handgun, ordered a 16-year-old girl off the street and into his truck, police said. He drove her to a secluded place and raped her.

In October, the man attacked two teenage sisters. He approached them near Seacliff Village Center in Huntington Beach, pretending to be a police officer, detectives said. He told the girls he was checking to see if they were truant and smoking while under age, police said, then lured them to an abandoned part of the shopping center and sexually assaulted them.

Less than a month later, the man struck again during a home invasion robbery in Seal Beach. There, a woman in her 40s returned home to find the man, armed with a kitchen knife.

The last attack took place nearly five months ago in Irvine, when the man broke into a 17-year-old girl’s home and sexually assaulted her when she returned from school.

Since January, police believe, the attacks have stopped, but investigators fear the rapist may strike again.

“He may be in custody, he may be out of the area, but I doubt if he just quits,” Irvine Police Lt. Sam Allevato said.

Anyone with information can call Huntington Beach Police Department’s detective hotline at: (714) 375-5066.