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Crime & Safety

LAPD: Suspect Sought in Chatsworth Sexual Assault

Patch updates all the major court cases.

Police are hunting an Hispanic male suspect in the year's first Devonshire area rape, authorities said Thursday.

A woman was assaulted in her home early Monday morning, police said.

Officer Matt Cartwright told a group of about 50 local residents at the monthly crime-reporting Neigborhood Watch “basic car” meeting at in Chatsworth that the woman did not know her assailant.

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A "basic car" is police lingo for the zone patrolled by a police car.

Cartwright said the glass slider door of the woman's residence was unlocked, and he believed that’s how the 180-pound intruder entered.

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Cartwright could not verify the location of the crime.

According to Devonshire crime statistics, last year there was one rape in the division. Four rapes were reported in 2010 with two arrests.

Cartwright was joined Thursday evening by Watch Commander Lt. Michael Oppelt who reported on residential and car burglaries.

Oppelt said generally car burglaries happen at night when owners are asleep and residential crooks break into homes during the day when homeowners are at work.

“As far as property crimes, (Devonshire police station) is (huge). It’s largely an affluent community and criminals want to go where there are (expensive items),” Oppelt said.

Oppelt said there are ways to deter criminals, such as not leaving valuables in cars, or calling out to let a potential burglar know you are at home if there’s a knock on the door.

"They are very stealth, very fast and very proficient,” he said.

Oppelt said a criminal will choose between a car or house that’s easier to break into than another and one that is less likely to bring attention to the crime.

He said earlier this year police were dealing with “Knock-Knock” burglars, but a new rash of crimes is what police call the “distraction” burglary.

Oppelt said his parents were victims to this type of crime in Granada Hills a few years back.

One person comes to the door dressed in official looking garb, tells the resident to come into the backyard for some sort of inspection while another enters the unlocked, front door and robs the place.

“They’re cunning, good at what they do, adapt quickly to new situations and are hard to find,” Oppelt said.

He said of the 91 residential burglaries in the entire Devonshire Division between Feb. 19 and March 17, only seven victims could give police some sort of suspect description.

Oppelt encouraged residents to call the police if they see any suspicious activity.

Terry Dennis, who moved to Chatsworth 2½ years ago, said the Neighborhood Watch “basic car” meeting was very informative.

“I learned about resources to solve my personal, potential crime problems. I’m glad I came and it was good to see people taking an interest in crime and fighting back,” Dennis said.

Chatsworth resident Georgia Altmayer is a regular at the monthly meetings. Altmayer said she wished more people would attend.

“It’s always the same people,” she added.

Vicki Ahlers of Chatsworth piggy-backed on Altmayer’s comments.

Ahlers said she wished more younger families would come out.

“I know they are busy, but it does take much time. These meetings give them a more secure feeling,” Ahlers said. “They are educational and can prevent (others) from becoming victims.”

ROUNDUP OF CHATSWORTH COURT CASES

Friday a preliminary hearing date is scheduled for , charged with murder in the shooting of a popular El Camino Real High School student and soccer goalie outside his family's home in Winnetka on Jan. 11.

is accused of impersonating a police officer and fondling at least five young girls near Lawrence Middle School in Chatsworth. Rogero, 24 of Van Nuys, is due in court on March 27 for a pretrial hearing. No trial date has been sent in his case.

And in the most recent criminal case involves , who is accused of bludgeoning his father to death with a hammer around midday Sunday. Chang will be arraigned April 11.

Defendant , accused of murdering two Chatsworth residents and dumping their bodies in a trash bin, is due in court on April 16 to schedule a preliminary hearing.

Then, there’s the case against Chatsworth resident . A pretrial hearing has been sent for April 9 and a jury trial for April 24. Soliman is accused of slashing the face of a police officer’s husband in the parking lot of a popular Chatsworth watering hole.

Defendant, David Neylander Pearson, who turned himself in at the Los Angeles Police Department Topanga Area Station in the strangling death of girlfriend Kirstin Hyde, 62, is due in court for a preliminary hearing on April 30.

Meanwhile, , a Chatsworth resident who took his mother on a wild car chase and allegedly stabbed her, assaulted a peace officer and committed a carjacking on Dec. 24, is due back in court on May 4 for a
pretrial conference. A trial date has not been set, according to the District
Attorney’s office.

of Chatsworth, fired by the Los Angeles Unified School District nearly five months after he was arrested on charges of molesting four youngsters, including at least one from Telfair Elementary School in Pacoima, is due in court for a preliminary hearing on May 13. The third-grade teacher taught at the Pacoima school for 13 years.

The District Attorney’s office declined to file a case, pending further investigation, in the early February allegation targeting , a janitor at Germain Elementary School in Chatsworth accused of sexually molesting a student.

And Jane Doe vs International Church of the Foursquare Gospel Case is back in court March 29. The civil lawsuit is against a former pastor, , accused of sexually molesting a young girl who attended a Chatsworth church. Leon was criminally charged in a Jan. 8, 2009, molestation.

Approximately one year earlier, Leon allegedly sexually assaulted another child. When that child complained of the abuse to another pastor at the church, it went unheeded, according to the complaint.

Leon pleaded no contest and was convicted of one count of child abuse. One count of sexual battery was dismissed at sentencing on Jan. 11, 2010, when Leon was sentenced to 365 days of jail and was placed on formal probation for five years.

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