A registered sex offender pleaded guilty Monday to sexually assaulting two women in their Newport Beach home three years ago.
Navdeep Singh Jhaj, 35, had a one-night stand with one of the women in February 2023 in her home and rejected all of his subsequent attempts to date her, prosecutors said in court papers.
When the woman returned home from work March 4, 2023, she left the front door open for some guests who were staying with her, which allowed Jhaj the chance to enter her home about 3 a.m., prosecutors said.
The victim woke up to the defendant sexually assaulting her, prosecutors said. When she told him to stop he said, “you invited me over,” prosecutors said.
The woman recognized him and then pleaded with him to leave and she promised not to tell anyone, prosecutors said. He left and she locked the door and called a friend who called police, prosecutors said.
Jhaj then went upstairs and slipped into the bed of the other victim, prosecutors said. The woman woke up to the defendant straddling her, said his name was “Sunny” and that he had been watching her, prosecutors said.
Jhaj told the woman to not worry and that he had just showered, police testified at his preliminary hearing. The two had a 10-minute discussion and said he was a friend of the other woman in the home, police testified.
The woman eventually persuaded him to let her go when she said she had to get ready to start her day, police testified. Jhaj got up, got dressed and left the room, police testified.
The victim locked her door and as officers arrived Jhaj fled before being arrested, prosecutors said.
Jhaj was arrested days later in Irvine.
Jhaj pleaded guilty to two counts of assault with the intent to commit a sex offense as well as single counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious victim and failing to notify law enforcement of a change of address as a sex offender, all felonies.
Jhaj was scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 20.
In October 2015, Jhaj went to a friend’s home and climbed into bed with a victim and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.
Jhaj pleaded guilty to felony sexual battery Oct. 27, 2017, and was sentenced to a year in jail and five years of probation.
As part of his plea deal, a count of sexual penetration by a foreign object and force and a count of sexual penetration by foreign object under belief the perpetrator is another person, both felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of touching an intimate part of another person were dismissed.