Suspect in ‘Messenger of the Lord’ Rapes Pleads Not Guilty

A 28-year-old graduate student pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 18 charges of sexual assault, robbery and kidnaping in the so-called “Messenger of the Lord” attacks on four women in Long Beach and San Pedro.

Moments later, however, the attorney for Joseph Brian Socha told reporters that the accused rapist had “made a statement admitting his involvement with these crimes” to police.

Socha, who is being held without bail at the Los Angeles County Jail hospital, should be released on bail, Deputy Public Defender Carl Kandel said during his client’s arraignment in Long Beach Municipal Court.

Kandel complained that Socha has been “chained up to his bed” and unable to take a shower. Authorities said he had been under a suicide watch.

Socha is under medication for depression, Kandel said, and his condition has been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia. The attorney predicted that Socha’s mental state will be a key element in the trial.

Judge Bradford Andrews ordered that the bail request be reviewed on Oct. 17, when Socha will appear for a preliminary hearing.

Socha was arrested last week in a rented room in a Rancho Palos Verdes home in connection with a string of sexual attacks that occurred in the last three months.

Four women were coaxed at dusk into a tan-colored Volvo by a man who then sexually assaulted them, police said. In at least two cases, the assailant called himself “St. Peter,” cut off the victims’ hair and carved upside-down crosses in their backs.

On Tuesday, however, Kandel characterized the crosses as only “scratches” and insisted that his client meant no harm. “It’s the type of thing a person would do to carry out a godly plan.

“He was driven by the fact he wants (the women) to stop being prostitutes rather than wanting to do them injury,” he said.

Police have said that at least two of Socha’s alleged victims were either hitchhiking or walking alone because of car problems.

Kandel told reporters that Socha said he had suffered a head injury while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps as a drill sergeant in San Diego. The injury, according to Kandel, may have led to “mental problems” and the “hearing of voices.”

According to academic records, Socha graduated in 1987 from San Diego State University. The following year, he enrolled in a master’s of business administration program at Cal State Dominguez Hills. He was scheduled to graduate this fall.

Socha also worked as a temporary clerk with an automotive parts supply center in Los Angeles and was a member of a San Pedro singles congregation of the Church of Latter-day Saints.