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Sex offender suspected in rape attempt; police seek other victims
Los Angeles Times
|January 30, 2026
Police are asking for the public's help to find additional potential victims of a convicted sex offender who was arrested this week on suspicion of attempted rape of a woman inside a business in downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles police said Joseph Lee Davis, 30, entered a business near 8th and Main streets about 5 p.m. Sunday looking for items to steal, but encountered a woman instead. When she yelled at Davis to leave, he tried to restrain her and knocked her to the ground, according to investigators.
Davis then allegedly closed the door behind them, attempted to remove the victim's pants and grabbed and sexually assaulted her, police said.
The woman fought back and ran to a neighboring business. Davis was “escorted out of the business and fled the location,” the Los Angeles Police Department wrote in a news release.
This story is from the January 30, 2026 edition of Los Angeles Times.
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