| For Immediate Release Case #08WF0033 October 21, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER SERIAL RAPIST CONVICTED OF SEXUALLY ASSAULTING FOUR WOMEN AND SECRETLY VIDEOTAPING THE RAPES
SANTA ANA – A serial rapist registered as a sex offender stemming from a child molest conviction was found guilty late yesterday of sexually assaulting four women in his apartment and surreptitiously videotaping the rapes without the victims’ knowledge or consent.
James Ernest Bledsoe, 30, Huntington Beach, was found guilty by a jury Oct. 20, 2011, of two felony counts each of forcible rape, rape of an unconscious woman who was unable to resist, rape of woman who was unable to resist due to intoxication, sexual penetration by foreign object of a person who was unable to resist due to intoxication, one felony count each of assault with intent to commit sexual assault, forcible oral copulation, oral copulation of an unconscious person who was unable to resist, oral copulation of an intoxicated person, sexual penetration by foreign object by force, and failure to register as a sex offender. He was found guilty of four misdemeanor counts of secretly filming another with the intent to arouse and one misdemeanor count of resisting and obstructing an officer. The jury found true the sentencing enhancements and allegations for committing sex crimes against multiple victims and being a habitual sex offender. He has a prior 2005 strike conviction for lewd acts on a child, for which he had to register for life as a sex offender.
Bledsoe faces a minimum sentence of 100 years to life in state prison at his sentencing Jan. 13, 2011, at 8:30 a.m. in Department C-44, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. The victims will have an opportunity to make impact statements at the sentencing.
Jane Doe #1
Bledsoe met Jane Doe #1 approximately two weeks prior to the rape, got her phone number, and the victim later agreed to go out with the defendant on a date.
On the night of Dec. 14, 2007, Bledsoe went to a nightclub in Costa Mesa with 27-year-old Jane Doe #1. After leaving the nightclub, the defendant returned with the victim to his Huntington Beach apartment and went in the community Jacuzzi before returning to Bledsoe’s home.
At approximately 3:00 a.m., Bledsoe turned on a video camera and began recording himself with the victim without Jane Doe #1’s knowledge or consent. The defendant surreptitiously taped consensual sexual acts with the victim, who eventually attempted to stand up and leave. The defendant pulled the victim back onto the bed as she began to cry and ask to be taken home.