A registered sex offender accused of sexually assaulting a housekeeper in Granada Hills was charged Monday with assault to commit rape and burglary.
Kevin William Lasz, 30, pleaded not guilty in a San Fernando courtroom to one count each of assault to commit rape during commission of a burglary and first-degree burglary, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
He’s being held on $1 million bail and is due back in court Aug. 18.
The victim, who is in her 60s, was attacked about 5:45 p.m. last Wednesday at a residence in the 16800 block of San Jose Street. The woman told officers she had been sexually assaulted but managed to fight off her assailant, police said.
Prosecutors and police allege Lasz knocked on the victim’s door and asked to speak with her about recent break-ins in the area, then forced his way inside, where he attempted to sexually assault the woman before fleeing.
A man matching the description of the suspect had approached another woman a short time earlier on nearby Minnehaha Street and asked to use her phone, police said. The woman became suspicious and called 911 to report the encounter.
Alice Gratias, who has lived in her home on San Jose Street for 51 years, said her housekeeper was alone when a man knocked on the front door and told her he was a neighbor named Kevin, then forced his way inside.
“He grabbed her, knocked her down, trying to get her over to the sofa, and then he got her cornered on the wall here and was trying to kiss her, did kiss her,” Gratias said. “And then, when she was knocked down, she happened to just kick him really hard in his groin … and then he ran away.”
Gratias said the woman was shaken up but otherwise OK.
“She was a fighter,” the homeowner said. “She had extra strength at that time.”
If convicted as charged, Lasz faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
— City News Service