Man charged in ‘reprehensible’ Venice canal attacks

Austin Turner
·2 min read
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Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced charges Monday against a man who he says committed two of the “most heinous sexual assaults” he’s ever seen.

Anthony Jones, 29, was arrested Thursday in San Diego on allegations that he brutally attacked and sexually assaulted two women in separate attacks along the canals in Venice earlier this month.

“The level of brutality that was engaged in was very reprehensible,” Gascón said in a news conference Monday.

The suspect, Anthony Jones, 29, seen walking around the Venice canals area on April 6, 2024.
The suspect, Anthony Jones, 29, seen walking around the Venice canals area on April 6, 2024.

The charges against Jones included two counts of forcible rape, one count of sexual penetration by use of force, one count of sodomy by use of force, one count of mayhem, one count of torture and one count of attempted murder.

One of the victims, Gascón said, was nearly beaten to death before she was sexually assaulted.

A victim who chose to be identified, Mary Klein, 54, told KTLA’s Chris Wolfe from her hospital bed that her assailant attacked her from behind and “bashed” her face in.

Mary Klein, seen with severe injuries and bruising, speaks to KTLA from her hospital bed on April 12, 2024. (KTLA)
Mary Klein, seen with severe injuries and bruising, speaks to KTLA from her hospital bed on April 12, 2024. (KTLA)

Jones is being held on $3.25 million bail, though Gascón has asked that he be denied bail.

“Let me be unequivocally clear,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. “Sexual assault and sex crimes in any form are abhorrent and intolerable … I commend the swift and diligent efforts of the Los Angeles Police Department and DA Gascón’s office in expeditiously investigating this matter and bringing forth charges.”

The charges were announced as Gascón is in the midst of a re-election campaign for the L.A. County D.A. job. Opponents have attacked the progressive for being “soft on crime,” and without naming names, L.A. City Councilwoman Traci Park alluded to Gascón in her response to Jones’ crimes.

Transient arrested for attacking 2 women along the Venice Canals

“I am sick and tired of living in the middle of a failed social experiment,” she said in a news conference. “We have all had enough. Enough with the ridiculous soft on crime/defund the police/catch-and-release/ ‘criminals are the victims’ policies that got us into this mess. Enough!”

Horvath noted Monday that Jones didn’t have a criminal record in L.A. County. If convicted of these charges, he could receive a life sentence in prison.

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