Conviction Upheld for Reseda Man Who Attacked 4 Girls, 1 Woman in SFV

By City News Service

A state appeals court panel today upheld a Reseda man's conviction for attacking four teenage girls and an 18-year-old woman in the San Fernando Valley in the span of a year.

The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected Jose Perez's claim that a judge erred in allowing jurors to hear about his statements to police.

Perez was convicted in April 2012 of one count of attempted forcible rape, three counts of attempted kidnapping and five counts of assault with intent to commit a felony, along with a misdemeanor assault charge.

The attempted rape charge involved a March 19, 2009, attack on a 10th grade student at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies. The girl, who was 16 at the time, was sitting at a table after school when she was attacked and dragged into some bushes, Los Angeles Police Department  Detective Ninette Toosbuy said after the verdict.

The girl suffered three fractures to her eye socket during the attack, in which the assailant tried to pull her pants down as she screamed for help, according to the detective.

The other attacks involved a 15-year-old girl in Reseda in May 2009, a 14-year-old girl in Reseda in November 2009, an April 2010 attack on a 14-year-old girl waiting for her brother in front of a Van Nuys elementary school and an 18-year-old woman walking home in Northridge on April 28, 2010, the detective said.

Perez is serving two life prison terms plus 17 years to life.