Man pleads not guilty to sexual assault

A Riverside County man pleaded not guilty today to intentionally causing a car accident to sexually assault an underage driver.

Rasaan Raymon Patton, 28, is charged with one felony count each of kidnapping to commit a sex offense, attempted forcible rape, sexual penetration by foreign object by force, sexual battery by restraint and a sentencing enhancement allegation for having a prior felony sex conviction. The charges hold a maximum sentence of life in state prison.

Patton is accused of following a 17-year-old girl down Yorktown Avenue as she was driving home alone and intentionally causing a minor accident at 2:40 a.m. in June 2008. When the girl pulled over and got out of her car, Patton allegedly forced her to the other side of the car where traffic couldn’t see them and sexually assaulted her.

The victim escaped and reported the incident to the Huntington Beach Police Department.

The police found a partial handprint on the right rear door of the girl’s car and matched the handprint to Patton in April. They arrested him four days later in his home.

Patton was convicted in 1999 of rape by intoxication in Riverside County. The pretrial will begin at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 23 in room C-37 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

— Britney Barnes