Sex offender found guilty of raping four women

A registered sex offender faces 100 years to life in prison after an Orange County jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting four women in his apartment and secretly videotaping the rapes.

James Ernest Bledsoe, 30, of Huntington Beach was found guilty Thursday of multiple sex crimes. He was accused of luring intoxicated and drugged women to his apartment, where he forced them to have sex while secretly recording them on video. Prosecutors used his own videos to demonstrate the lack of consent on the part of the women, whom he picked up in local bars.

In the most recent case, on Dec. 14, 2007, he took a 27-year-old woman home from a Costa Mesa nightclub. After a dip in his apartment complex’s whirlpool bath, Bledsoe secretly recorded the two having consensual sex, prosecutors said.

But then, prosecutors said, Bledsoe turned off the camera and raped her. He turned on the camera again and refused to let the woman leave. According to prosecutors, the video shows the woman pleading to be allowed to leave before Bledsoe sexually assaults her as she struggles to get away. She can be heard saying “You’re scaring me” and “You’re hurting me.”

Bledsoe later became angry, punched the woman in the stomach and yelled at her to get out of his apartment. She reported the rape to the Huntington Beach police.

He tried to flee the country by parking in San Diego and walking across the border into Mexico. When police stopped him, he tried to escape. He was arrested shortly thereafter in San Diego.

During the course of the investigation, Huntington Beach police discovered numerous additional videos of women and identified three other sexual assault victims.

On Oct. 8, 2007, Bledsoe took a 21-year-old woman home from a Huntington Beach bar and recorded himself sexually assaulting her while she appeared to be drugged, prosecutors said. The woman woke up the next morning in Bledsoe’s clothing, sick and in her own home.

She remembered only one drink and did not remember specifically what had happened. She went to the hospital that day and filed a sexual assault report with police but could not remember being raped or who had sexually assaulted her, police said.

On July 15, 2007, Bledsoe took a 24-year-old woman to his apartment. He videotaped himself raping her while she was unconscious, authorities said. The victim woke up the next morning without knowing that she had been assaulted. On July 24, 2007, parole agents discovered the woman’s driver’s license in Bledsoe’s home during a parole search, and it later helped detectives connect her to the videos.

In the fourth case, prosecutors said, Bledsoe went drinking on June 30, 2007, with a 21-year-old woman in Costa Mesa. According to prosecutors, she passed out and woke up to find Bledsoe standing over her. He offered to take her home, but instead took her to his apartment and recorded himself sexually assaulting her, prosecutors said. The woman came forward after authorities announced his arrest.

Jurors convicted Bledsoe of numerous felony assault charges. He also has a 2005 conviction for lewd acts on a child, for which he had to register for life as a sex offender. At his sentencing Jan. 13, he faces a minimum sentence of 100 years to life in prison for the rapes.

richard.winton@latimes.com