Rasaan Raymon Patton - Repeat Sex Offender - Tries new trick

• Previous conviction: RAPE OF DRUGGED VICTIM

Prosecutors say a registered sex offender purposely caused a car crash so he could sexually assault a teenage driver.

Rasaan Raymon Patton, 28, of Perris is charged with four felonies, including attempted rape and sexual battery by restraint. Prosecutors are seeking a possible life sentence, given that he has an earlier conviction, for a 1999 rape in Riverside County.

The incident happened around 2:40 a.m. on June 21, 2008, prosecutors said.

The 17-year-old girl was driving home alone on Yorktown Avenue in Huntington Beach. Patton followed the girl and caused a minor crash, prosecutors said. When she pulled over, Patton assaulted her, prosecutors said.

The girl managed to get away and reported the assault to police the next day, authorities said. Patton was arrested at his Riverside home Monday – after police say they linked a handprint on the girl's car to his fingerprints.

Patton will be arraigned today at Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison.

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
.........Sarah Tofte