A Redondo Beach man charged last week for raping a Gardena woman last September faces an additional charge for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in 2005, according to Gardena police.
Corey Delaine Stewart, 40, reportedly invited the victim, who was then working as a prostitute in Los Angeles, into his car and raped her. The girl contacted police when she saw news reports of Stewart’s arrest late February, according to police.
Prosecutors filed the new charge against him before his arraignment Monday in Torrance court, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and aggravated sexual assault of a child, according to the Daily Breeze.
Gardena police arrested Stewart on Feb. 27 after his DNA was linked to the Sept. 28 rape of a woman he met on Tagged.com, a social networking site. He and the woman reportedly exchanged messages online for several weeks before she agreed to meet him for a job interview, according to police. Stewart drove her into a residential neighborhood in Gardena and sexually assaulted her at gunpoint, police said.
“I have serious concerns about the safety of our community if sexual predators like this are loose in our community,” Gardena Police Chief Edward Medrano said in a statement. “I am thankful for the three courageous women who have stepped forward and made the difficult decision to tell their story. I am confident that justice will be served in this case.”
Gardena police detectives believe Stewart has likely attacked more women in the last eight years. To make a report, contact Detective Michael Ross at 310-217-9635.
