Orange County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for a man who tried to sexually assault a female in the area of Ma
rguerite Parkway and La Paz Road in Mission Viejo Wednesday. The female was walking on Oso Creek Trail around 3:30 p.m. when she was grabbed, pulled to the ground and had her pants starting to be pulled off. But she fought back and her attacker ran off. He was described as of an unknown race, 5-foot-10, possibly 50 years old, husky with a black flattop haircut. He was wearing a white shirt, khaki pants and work boots. Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the sheriff’s department commander at 714.647.7170.
A Newport Beach woman is suing Fletcher Jones Motorcars because a dealership mechanic was convicted of trying to rape her. Karen Sommers, who was assaulted in her home in 2005, claims Travis Dewayne Batten Jr. was able to get her personal information from Fletcher Jones, where she got her car serviced. Batten was sentenced to 107 years in state prison in May 2014 for the attack on Sommers in her Newport Beach home and for twice raping an Irvine woman. A third victim moved back to Japan so Batten could not be prosecuted for that attack. During trial, prosecutors showed jurors how Batten stalked his victims by studying videos of their movements. Sommers alleges he found her through the personal information she left with Fletcher Jones, which is at Jamboree and the 73 in Newport Beach, as the Mercedes dealer’s ads inform. Her suit claims the dealership did not do enough to protect her. Fletcher Jones has been mostly tight lipped about the suit, except to say mechanics do not receive the personal information of customers. But someone close to the plaintiff alleges to the Weekly that “Fletcher Jones went on a jihad to get personal information and keep ‘touching’ the customer after they get the information. They are proud of the way they mine information.” As evidence, the Weekly was pointed to this video.
