Serial Crime

A popular band leader was convicted Thursday of stalking, raping and sexually assaulting seven women in a case in which one victim took the unusual step of going public to warn other women and put pressure on the Police Department to make the investigation a top priority. As the guilty verdicts were being read, Kenneth Bogard turned to rape victim Kim Caldwell and mouthed the words, "I didn't do it." Caldwell stared coldly at Bogard, pointed directly at him and said firmly, "Yes, you did."

A lawyer who helped convince a South Carolina jury to spare Susan Smith's life has joined Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski's defense team--a move observers said Tuesday may hint at an insanity defense. Federal Defender Quin Denvir said he has filed papers asking U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell to appoint Judy Clarke as his co-counsel. Kaczynski has met with Clarke and wants her on the team, Denvir said.

A man FBI officials believe may be the "three B" bandit responsible for a string of up to 28 Southern California bank robberies was arrested Thursday after allegedly holding up a bank in a Valencia supermarket just as FBI agents were about to hold a news conference asking for help finding him. The unidentified suspect was arrested with a woman companion in Westwood after being followed from Valencia by a Santa Clarita-based sheriff's deputy, officials said.

Authorities on Wednesday announced the arrest of a suspected serial rapist who may have been active in Los Angeles and Orange counties for nearly 10 years. Robert Charles Lee, 34, of Fullerton was arrested Monday and charged with five felony sexual assault charges involving the alleged rapes of two women in Gardena in 2001. He is being held on $3-million bail as authorities in both counties investigate possible links between Lee and other rapes.

A trio suspected of impersonating utility workers to burglarize mostly elderly women has been arrested, closing a case that has nagged the Huntington Park Police Department for three years. The district attorney's office recently charged Bell Gardens residents Billy Demetro, 47, his son Joseph Demetro, 20, and Billy Demetro's stepson, Perry Tan, 19, with felony residential burglary stemming from nine cases. Each was being held on $500,000 bail. They have pleaded not guilty.

Credit card thefts at Ventura County health clubs in the last year are being investigated by federal authorities for a possible link to a larger fraud ring targeting gyms nationwide, officials said this week. "This has been going on for a long time," said Capt. Frank O'Hanlon, who heads the Sheriff Department's East County Major Crimes Unit. "Don't bring your valuables to the club. Don't leave them in the car. Go with the basic minimum of a driver's license and maybe $5 for some juice."

The man who authorities believe is the so-called Belmont Shore serial rapist responsible for attacking 31 women pleaded guilty 13 years ago to a bizarre crime at a Long Beach woman's home that eerily foreshadows the cases for which he is expected to be charged today. Mark Wayne Rathbun, 32, of Long Beach was arrested on suspicion of rape and burglary Sunday in connection with 31 sexual assaults on women in Seattle, Long Beach, Los Alamitos and Huntington Beach since 1996.

A Long Beach man whose job history includes Christmas tree deliveryman and supermarket bag boy has been arrested as the suspected sexual predator responsible for attacking 31 women in Southern California and Seattle, police announced Monday. Police had pleaded with the public for extra vigilance after the latest attack last week, but Long Beach Police Chief Anthony W. Batts on Monday credited old-fashioned police work for the arrest of Mark Wayne Rathbun, 32.

Aileen Wuornos, a hitchhiking prostitute who killed six men along Florida's highways more than a decade ago, was executed by injection Wednesday after dropping her appeals and firing her lawyers. Wuornos, 46, became the 10th woman executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed in 1977. Oklahoma has put three women to death; Florida and Texas have executed two each. In her final statement, Wuornos referred to Jesus and a blockbuster movie.

A 36-year-old man who was fatally shot by detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department's Special Investigation Section was identified Friday as Craig Lee Smith, an ex-convict who served four years in state prison for narcotics and burglary convictions, authorities said. The unemployed telemarketer died of multiple gunshot wounds, said Craig Harvey, chief of operations for the Los Angeles County coroner's office. An autopsy is scheduled for today.