The manager of a Laguna Beach rug store was charged Friday with sexually assaulting four more women inside the store, doubling the number of alleged victims.
The new charges against Saeid Boustanabadi Maralan, 53, of Laguna Niguel, were the result of women coming forward after publicity after his arrest Sept. 1.
Maralan, a registered sex offender who is being held on $2-million bail, now faces two felony counts of sexual battery by restraint, one felony count each of forcible rape, sexual penetration by a foreign object by force, attempted forcible oral copulation, false imprisonment and one misdemeanor count of indecent exposure. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in state prison.
Maralan manages the store, Sirous & Sons, in Laguna Beach. For more than a year and half, Laguna Beach police struggled to build a case against Maralan, who was convicted of molesting several woman in Los Angeles County in 1999 and 2002.
The investigation began when a 40-year-old woman reported on April 10, 2010, that he took her into a storage closet where he grabbed and kissed her. As she tried to flee, Maralan allegedly pulled down the victim’s pants and attempted to rape her, according to prosecutors.
An employee then alleged she was raped May 15, 2010, in a storage room when Maralan pushed her against a stack of rugs and assaulted her. The woman told a friend that night and reported the attack to Laguna Beach police the next day.
Lt. Jason Kravetz said the first two victims reported the crimes but shortly after refused to cooperate with investigators, and even went as far as to ask the department to drop the investigations. The police tried to corroborate the women’s reports by sending an undercover female detective into the
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