Accused In Ocean Beach Rape Pleads Not Guilty

From: KGTV, CA - 26 Feb 2003

Bladow Being Held On $50,000 Bail

SAN DIEGO -- A deaf man accused in the rape of a 21-year-old woman who had fallen asleep at an Ocean Beach hostel a week ago pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of rape of an unconscious person.

The Feb. 18 attack was the second in a series of three apparently unrelated sexual assaults in the beach area over a six-day period, police said.

John Bladow, 44, of Costa Mesa, was ordered held on $50,000 bail. He faces eight years in state prison if convicted.

Superior Court Judge David Szumowski set a March 5 readiness conference and scheduled a preliminary hearing for March 10 after Bladow entered his plea.

Police said Bladow was arrested Saturday after returning to the hostel on Newport Avenue.

The victim said she had fallen asleep in a common room at the inn after attending a party there. She said she awoke around 4 a.m. to find a stranger assaulting her, according to investigators.

The crime occurred three days after a street rape a few blocks away, and two days before another one in the nearby Point Loma community.

About 1 a.m. on Feb. 15, a man grabbed another 21-year-old woman as she walked along Narragansett Avenue, near Bacon Street, pulled her down between two parked cars and assaulted her.

A little more than 48 hours later, three men jumped an 18-year-old student as she was walking to her high school in the 1400 block of Banning Street. The assailants forced her into a silver van and raped her, police said.

Despite their proximity in time and place, the rapes apparently were unrelated, according to police.

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