The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office cited insufficient evidence in its refusal to file formal charges this week regarding an alleged sexual assault that occurred Tuesday evening, according to a Sheriff’s Department official.
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies were patrolling near the intersection of 12th and Pine streets in Newhall, and heard a person in distress, according to an email Wednesday from Sgt. Joseph Mesa of the Special Victims Unit.
“Santa Clarita deputies, who were in the area, heard a woman yelling from under a bridge,” Mesa wrote. “Deputies observed the suspect engaged in a physical altercation with the woman and promptly arrested him for attempted rape.”
Mesa also indicated the alleged victim later positively identified the suspect, who was booked into the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station as a “John Doe,” a man described as a transient local to the Newhall area in the Sheriff’s Department’s booking logs.
He was formally booked anonymously shortly after midnight Wednesday and held in lieu of $100,000 bail due to the allegation, suspicion of rape by force or fear.
Sheriff’s officials obtained the suspect’s name through their fingerprinting process, Mesa said, but according to LASD custody records available online, he was released Wednesday afternoon due to a lack of evidence.
