Rape Suspect Faces Trial After Women Identify Him in Court

VENTURA — The spectacled 64-year-old woman with salt-and-pepper hair kneaded her hands and bravely told of the night a strange man with a thin mustache almost ended her life.

“I kept thinking I was going to die and that this can’t be happening to me,” the woman said. “And that’s when he reached for my throat and pressed both thumbs into my vocal cords.”

The woman was one of three victims who testified in the preliminary hearing of suspected serial rapist Jose Zavala. The other two victims told similar stories of waking to find a man attacking them.

After listening to more than three hours of emotive testimony and the women’s positive identification of Zavala, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Arturo Gutierrez ruled that the 21-year-old suspect must stand trial on charges of rape, attempted rape and burglary.

“Identifying him was a big issue,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Tina Nunes-Ober, lead prosecutor in the case. “That’s one of the reasons we had all the victims here today to point him out.”

Authorities arrested Zavala, a citizen of Mexico, Feb. 22 after he allegedly broke into the home of 44-year-old Sue Clohessy and tried to rape her. The suspect fled after a male resident of the home came to Clohessy’s aid.

“I immediately started calling for help when I saw him standing over me,” Clohessy said. “But then he started choking me and then I couldn’t say anything.”

The attacks struck fear into residents of the town, which has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.

A 57-year-old woman was raped Feb. 20 after a man fitting Zavala’s description broke through the sliding glass of her two-bedroom apartment in the Camelot Condominium complex on Pleasant Way.

Prosecutors believe Zavala is also the man who raped the 64-year-old woman as she lay asleep in the bedroom of her home at the Thunderbird Oaks Mobile Home Park. A week after the incident, the woman’s home was robbed. Police reported that a stereo belonging to the woman was found at Zavala’s home.

According to authorities, Zavala has a long criminal history, including two deportations for criminal offenses.

In January 1994, using the alias Jose Alanis Perez, Zavala was arrested in Thousand Oaks for misdemeanor sexual battery. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years’ probation. He was deported for the crime in May 1994.

In June 1995, after reentering the country and using the alias Joel Barnett Alanis, Zavala pleaded guilty in Ventura County to sexual battery and indecent exposure in addition to numerous probation violations. He was sentenced to three years’ probation and was ordered to seek psychiatric counseling.

Jail officials said Zavala was arrested again in July 1996 on suspicion of kidnapping, burglary, violating probation and brandishing a firearm.

In December, Zavala was again deported after being arrested for drug possession.

In addition to the testimony of victims, the court heard Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank O’Hanlon, who investigated the rape cases.

In addition to finding some of the suspect’s finger and palm prints at two of the crime scenes, O’Hanlon said Zavala admitted to taking the stereo of the 64-year-old woman.

Zavala, currently being held on a $1-million bond, is scheduled for formal arraignment May 15. If convicted, he could face a minimum of 25 years to life in prison.