LAKEPORT, Calif. – An elderly Lakeport man was arrested this week after police say he sexually battered a mentally incapacitated woman at a care facility where he also resided.
William Ernest Lukens, 81, was arrested Thursday evening, according to a report from Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said that at 8:45 a.m. Monday officers were called to a Lakeport care home to investigate the report of a sexual battery.
The initial investigation determined that the victim, a 73-year-old Lakeport woman, was medically incapacitated due to serious disabilities and unable to protect herself, Rasmussen said.
He said the investigation also identified Lukens – who recently became a resident of Lakeport and was living in the care facility – as the suspect in the case.
Rasmussen said the case was turned over to a detective who began a detailed investigation of the circumstances of the incident and Lukens' background.
In addition to the sexual battery it was determined that Lukens had exposed himself to a 23-year-old female staff member at the same care home, Rasmussen said.
The detective also found that Lukens had a previous felony conviction for a serious sex offense, had served time in state prison and therefore was required to register as a sex offender with the law enforcement agency whose jurisdiction he lived in, according to Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said Lukens had last registered in May with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, when he reported that he was living in Nice.
Based on all of the evidence gathered, on Thursday evening Lukens was arrested on felony charges of sexual battery on a medically incapacitated and institutionalized victim, indecent exposure and failing to register as a sex offender in the city of Lakeport, Rasmussen said.
Lukens was transported to the Lake County Correctional Facility where he was booked on the charges, with bail set at $15,000. As of Friday evening, Lukens remained in custody, according to jail records.
He is tentatively scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 17, according to his booking sheet.
Elderly man arrested for sexual battery, indecent exposure, violating sex offender registration rules
- Lake County News reports
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