Suspected Oak Park trail attacker face more charges




Edgar Ruelas

Edgar Ruelas

A man arrested last March for an alleged kidnapping attempt in Oak Park has been connected to a string of sexual assaults and burglaries in Ventura four years ago.

Edgar Ruelas, a 38-year-old Woodland Hills man, was arrested after reportedly trying to kidnap a teenage girl who was hiking in Oak Park. Investigators with the Ventura Police Department believe he’s also responsible for a four burglary and sexual assault crimes that occurred in 2016.

Sgt. Kenny Welch of the Ventura Police Department said the department had no suspects for the crimes until they spoke with detectives from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and recognized a similarity between the Oak Park incident and the crimes in Ventura.

“When we heard about the Oak Park crime, we figured, there were some similarities—(both perpetrators) wore a ski mask,” Welch said. “Detectives at the sheriff’s office were able to go through his phone and find out that he lived in Ventura and we started thinking it might be the same guy.”

Welch said Ventura investigators learned that Ruelas had lived in the same apartment complex as the victims when the crimes took place four years ago. Police had set up security cameras to try and capture images of the culprit, but had no luck. Welch said the realization that Ruelas lived in the same complex explained why they’d never successfully recorded the perpetrator entering the community.

Ruelas is suspected of peeping on one resident, and breaking into the homes of three others. One victim was groped and the other two were sexually assaulted, investigators said. In all four instances, the perpetrator was wearing dark clothes, gloves and a ski mask—attire matching the would-be kidnapper in Oak Park last March.

After his arrest earlier this year, Ruelas’ DNA linked him to a 2017 rape and burglary on St. Charles Drive in Thousand Oaks.

Ventura investigators were able to link Ruelas’ to the unsolved crimes thanks to inter-departmental communication, Welch said.

“We all talk, we all live in the same county, so we connect with Oxnard and Simi Valley P.D. and the sheriff’s department. We all converse and have each other’s phone numbers and call about things,” Welch said. “When we get a big case we let them know. We have fliers that go between agencies to say be on the lookout for something. We know people don’t care what the boundaries are (when committing a crime). They don’t care about jurisdiction. They’ll go wherever, so we have to be sure to converse with each other and let people know.”

Welch said the evidence linking Ruelas to the Ventura crimes is circumstantial, but the investigation is ongoing. Further testing of Ruelas’ DNA is underway, and could reveal more about his connection to the crimes.

He was arrested for the 2016 crimes while in the custody of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and is being held on $5.1 million bail.

Welch said Ventura authorities declined to push for an increased bail based on the four new charges against Ruelas on the belief that the current bail amount “should hold him.”

Ruelas is facing a life sentence if found guilty, Welch said.

Ruelas was arrested last March after allegedly attempting to kidnap a 16-year-old girl who was hiking in Oak Park.

The victim told authorities she was walking in an open space east of Sunnycrest Drive and Trefoil Avenue when a man grabbed her. She was able to break free and run away unharmed.

She reported the perpetrator was dressed in dark clothing and fled the scene in a shite sport utility vehicle with no license plates.

Investigators arrest Ruelas the next day at Torrey Pines State Preserve in San Diego. He was driving a white Nissan Rogue, the same vehicle that had fled the scene of the Oak Park attack, authorities said.

Follow Ian Bradley on Twitter @Ian_ reports.