Man pleads innocent in Ocean Beach rape

From: San Diego Union Tribune, CA - 25 Feb 2003

SIGNONSANDIEGO NEWS SERVICES

SAN DIEGO -- A deaf man accused in the rape of a 21-year-old woman who had fallen asleep at an Ocean Beach hostel last weekend pleaded innocent today to a charge of rape of an unconscious person.

The Feb. 18 attack was the second of three apparently unrelated sexual assaults in the 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.

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

The victim said she had fallen asleep in a common room after a party at the hostel. 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 a 21-year-old woman as she walked along Narragansett Avenue, near Bacon Street, pulled her down between two parked cars and sexually 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 and timing, the rapes were unrelated, according to police.

© Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.