Deaf man pleads guilty to sexual assault in OB

From: San Diego Union Tribune, CA - Aug 13, 2003

SIGNONSANDIEGO NEWS SERVICES

3:04 p.m., August 13, 2003

SAN DIEGO – A deaf Costa Mesa man who assaulted a sleeping woman in an Ocean Beach hostel after a party in February pleaded guilty today to a felony charge of sexual battery.

John Bladow had been charged with rape of an unconscious person. He faces sentencing Oct. 2.

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.

The 21-year-old victim said she fell asleep in a common room at the inn after attending a party there. She said she awoke about 4 a.m. to find a stranger assaulting her, according to investigators.

Bladow, 44, was arrested four days later as he returned to the hostel on Newport Avenue.

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

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 assaulted her.

A little more than 48 hours later, three men jumped an 18-year-old student as she walked 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.

© Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.