A scheduled sentencing hearing Friday was pushed back to next month for a 27-year-old transient who admitted that he attempted to sexually assault a woman in a park bathroom stall in Palm Springs.
Jonathan Nava was originally accused of forcing his way into an office building and a park bathroom stall hours apart on Oct. 27, 2017, in an attempt to sexually assault two women.
He pleaded guilty to the latter incident, and to committing a burglary at the office building at 1140 N. Indian Canyon, according to John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
A second count of assault with intent to commit rape, as well as a felony false imprisonment charge, will be dismissed at sentencing — now scheduled for Aug. 6 — as part of the plea deal, Hall said.
According to Palm Springs police, Nava forced his way into the office building just before 10 a.m. on Oct. 27, 2017, where he chased after a woman who was able to flee and call police. Nava fled before officers arrived, but at that point, officers hadn’t concluded that the attack was allegedly sexual in nature, police said.
Just after noon that day, officers were called to Ruth Hardy Park on a report of a man trying to sexually assault a woman inside a bathroom stall.
The woman, who was in the stall to change clothes for work, was heard screaming by witnesses at the park. Nava forced his way into the stall, but fled after witnesses entered the bathroom, according to police. A search of the area led to Nava’s arrest about an hour later at Via Chica and Via Altamira, just southwest of the park.
Nava remains jailed at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning on $500,000 bail.