10 Counts Filed Against Van Nuys Rape Suspect

Ten felony counts were filed Monday against a suspected rapist who Los Angeles police said apologized after he raped two Van Nuys women and “fell in love” with a third woman after sexually assaulting her last week.

Kenneth Carter, 26, a Van Nuys house painter, was charged with two counts of rape, one count of assault with intent to commit rape, three counts of first-degree burglary, two counts of residential robbery, one count of sexual battery and one count of oral copulation, said Los Angeles Police Detective Thomas Couillard.

The charges stem from the June 10 sexual assault of a 21-year-old woman in her Van Nuys home and the May 17 and May 26 rapes of two other women in their Van Nuys apartments, Couillard said.

Carter was arrested Thursday in a Sepulveda restaurant as he talked to the victim of the June 10 attack while police traced the call, police said.

The young woman, alerted to expect the call by an earlier answering machine message from her attacker, kept the man on the line for about 15 minutes as police traced the call.

After the assault, the woman received several messages on her telephone answering machine expressing remorse and asking forgiveness. She also received an unsigned card professing love, which police believe was sent by Carter. His arraignment is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today before Van Nuys Municipal Court Judge Patricia Schwartz. The district attorney’s office will recommend that bail for Carter, who is being held in the Van Nuys Jail, be raised from $22,000 to $67,500.