{"id":154792,"date":"2026-01-29T11:17:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/154792\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T11:17:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:17:16","slug":"convicted-sex-offender-tried-to-rape-a-woman-in-a-business-police-say-theyre-searching-for-other-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/154792\/","title":{"rendered":"Convicted sex offender tried to rape a woman in a business, police say. They’re searching for other victims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Police are asking for the public\u2019s help to find additional victims of a convicted sex offender who was arrested this week after authorities say he attempted to rape a woman inside a business in downtown Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\"Joseph <\/p>\n

On Jan. 27, around 3:45 p.m., Joseph Lee Davis was arrested in the area of 6th Street and San Julian Street.<\/p>\n

(LAPD)<\/p>\n

Davis then allegedly closed the door behind them, attempted to remove the victim\u2019s pants, grabbed and sexually assaulted her, police said. The woman fought back and ran to a neighboring business. Davis was \u201cescorted out of the business and fled the location,\u201d LAPD wrote in a news release.<\/p>\n

Davis was taken into custody Tuesday at 6th and San Julian streets \u2014 just a few blocks from the business \u2014 and booked on suspicion of attempted rape, police said.<\/p>\n

LAPD Capt. Kelly Muniz said officers have already spoken with a second person who said Davis attempted to sexually assault them. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe victims of the suspect Central officers took into custody will be impacted by his callous acts for a very long time,\u201d Muniz said. \u201cWhile I am saddened for the victims, I am proud of the diligence and tenacity of our officers and detectives to take him into custody in less than 48 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A man identified as Joseph Lee Davis is seen in a doorway.<\/p>\n

(LAPD)<\/p>\n

Investigators identified Davis using security camera footage of him fleeing the business, police said.<\/p>\n

Davis was convicted of touching a woman intimately against her will in June and was placed on probation for a year, court records show. He was also required to register as a sex offender, but investigators determined that Davis had failed to comply with registration requirements. <\/p>\n

Jail records show that Davis was arrested in December by LAPD\u2019s transit officers on a suspicion of a felony. He was subsequently sentenced to 99 days in jail but was released on Jan. 15, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department jail records.<\/p>\n

Davis is 6 foot 1 and weighs about 190 pounds. He was wearing a burgundy Nike sweater, blue pants and red sandals during the assault, police said. <\/p>\n

Anyone with information is asked to contact LAPD Central Area Sex Detectives at (213) 996-1837.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police are asking for the public\u2019s help to find additional victims of a convicted sex offender who was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[75983,387,75984,9905,3816,42753,75985,48,52,51,5015,47,50,49,63,2322,75986,236,23735,10132,1557],"class_list":["post-154792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-additional-victim","tag-business","tag-custody-tuesday","tag-davis","tag-investigator","tag-jail-record","tag-kelly-muniz","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lapd","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-officer","tag-other-victim","tag-police","tag-sex-offender","tag-suspicion","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}