| For Immediate Release Case # 08WF0033
January 13, 2012 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER SERIAL RAPIST SENTENCED TO 129 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR SEXUALLY ASSAULTING FOUR WOMEN AND SECRETLY VIDEOTAPING THE RAPES
SANTA ANA – A serial rapist registered as a sex offender stemming from a previous child molest conviction was sentenced today to 129 years to life in state prison for 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.
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.
The defendant temporarily turned off the camera and forcibly raped Jane Doe #1. He then turned on the camera again and refused to let the victim leave. Jane Doe #1 continued pleading for Bledsoe to let her go and give back her clothes, which the defendant had hidden.
Bledsoe then forcibly orally copulated the victim on video as she told him to stop and struggled to get away. Jane Doe #1 repeatedly told Bledsoe, “You’re scaring me,” and, “You’re hurting me,” as the defendant assaulted her and masturbated in front of her. Bledsoe became angry, punched Jane Doe #1 in the stomach, and yelled at her to get the “f*** out of” his house.