Sex Crimes

A transient wounded by police was charged Thursday with murder and numerous unlawful sex acts in the abduction and shooting of two Chatsworth girls, and police identified his alleged woman accomplice. Roland Norman Comtois, 57, remained in critical condition but was conscious Thursday in the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Sterling Norris, who filed the seven charges alleging murder, attempted murder, kidnaping and several acts of sexual molestation.

A Los Angeles County judge ordered a tattoo artist Tuesday to stand trial on charges that he sexually assaulted three young women at his North Hollywood business. The women, ages 16 to 25, testified that Daniel Victor Rivas, 46, touched them sexually while tattooing their lower backs during the last two years. An 18-year-old said she still has an unfinished fairy tattoo because she left hastily after Rivas touched her in May 2000.

Five California corrections employees have resigned and at least 40 more are under investigation for sexual misconduct with inmates at women's prisons, the state Department of Corrections disclosed Wednesday. One employee resigned after it was alleged that he had fathered an inmate's child. Two other workers quit after they were found to be dating parolees. Another has been placed on administrative leave pending a criminal prosecution for sexual assault, according to the department.

Motorists with low incomes or old or new cars will get some relief from Smog Check II inspections because of four bills signed Thursday by Gov. Pete Wilson. "These new laws will make it easier for motorists to comply with tougher pollution standards, which are a direct result of the federal government's mandate to improve air quality," the Republican governor said. He also signed a trio of bills to study and regulate a chemical used to make gasoline burn cleaner.

A 22-year-old convicted sex offender has been arrested on suspicion of violating his probation for allegedly posing as a teenager to enter the Boys & Girls Club of Ventura on Johnson Drive. Michael Angel Hinojosa remained in Ventura County Jail on Saturday, where he was being held without bail since his arrest July 11, a jail employee said. He is slated to appear in court Aug. 15.

The California Supreme Court was asked Wednesday to clear the way for substantial increases in prison terms for rapists and other sex offenders. A state prosecutor urged the justices to uphold an appellate ruling that allowed a San Diego man to be punished for a separate crime for each of three sexual penetrations that took place during a single incident--even though each lasted only a few seconds. "This was not a single act, but three separate acts punctuated by violence," state Deputy Atty.

A judge sentenced a former Lutheran Church youth worker to more than 48 years in prison for sex crimes against five minors aged 10 to 16. James Allen Weller, 32, was convicted in November of 27 counts of rape, forced oral copulation, forcible child molestation, oral copulation with a minor and taking pornographic pictures of a minor. San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Alan Bollhoffer also ordered Weller to pay $2,600 in fines and restitution within three years.

A city police officer suspected of committing sex crimes while on duty and in uniform has been released from custody on $50,000 bail, authorities said. Robert A. Forman, 38, was arrested Wednesday at the Riverside Police Department's Orange Street Station and booked on two counts of oral copulation involving a public official and one count of sexual battery, Lt. Robert Meier said in a prepared statement. The alleged incidents occurred between February and April, Meier said, according to three separate victims who said Forman approached them while performing his patrol duties.

A high school basketball coach was charged Friday with crimes for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old girl. Erik Ross, 43, an assistant boys' basketball coach at Franklin High School, was arrested Wednesday by Glendale police and charged with 12 crimes. He also coached a girls' youth basketball team, and the alleged victim was a member of an opposing squad. She was not a student at Franklin. -- Jason Song

The military services have no common system for reporting sex harassment or sex crimes because the Defense Department failed to follow a congressional mandate to compile statistics on all crimes, the Pentagon said Thursday. "It was a deficiency that we don't have uniform figures," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon told reporters. "We're correcting it."