A man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of a string of break-ins, attempted assaults and sex crimes in San Bernardino after returning to the same apartment complex where he allegedly assaulted a woman two months ago, police said.
Ernest Garcia, 35, allegedly forced himself into a woman's apartment in the 400 block of Third Street on June 11 and made her perform sex acts with him against her will for several hours, San Bernardino Police officials said. The woman contacted police, who collected DNA evidence, identified Garcia and began a search.
Garcia allegedly returned to the apartment complex on Saturday morning and forced himself into another apartment, only to be confronted by the residents, police said. A fight broke out between the residents and Garcia and one of the residents suffered non-life-threatening stab wounds.
Garcia allegedly fled the apartment and a knocked on the door of another unit in the complex. When a woman answered the door, he allegedly showed a knife and attempted to force his way in, but gave up and fled, police said.
He then allegedly forced himself into a third apartment in the complex and swung a knife at the resident inside before fleeing the property. At about 2 a.m., he broke a window of a house in the 100 block of Court Street and tried to enter, but the home's residents called the authorities and confronted him in the front yard when officers arrived, according to police.
Garcia was arrested and is facing charges related to rape, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and residential robbery. He is being held at the San Bernardino County West Valley Detention Center.
Anyone with information about the suspected crimes is asked to call Detective Anthony King at 909-388-4955 or Sgt. Brett Birnbaum at 909-384-5659.
