Photo: Leroy Chad Tracy
Ventura County – 38-year-old Santa Paula resident Leroy Chad Tracy is currently being held on $1,000,000 bail following his April 17th arrest for a crime he allegedly committed six years ago.
It was in May of 2013 when Ventura County Sheriff’s Department deputies and officers of the Santa Paula Police Department failed in their efforts to locate the perpetrator of a sexual assault upon a female Santa Paula resident.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Det. Cameron Henderson, the crime involved a “male suspect who was armed with a knife” as he abducted his victim, dragged her into a nearby orchard, “and sexually assaulted her.” This same suspect was reported by the victim to have threatened her with bodily harm during the assault. Once the sexual contact was over, “the suspect then fled the area” and was not successfully located or identified.
While the suspect may have departed the crime scene, his DNA did not. It was then analyzed and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), but no match to any known individual was made at that time and the crime went unsolved. In 2018, however, VCSD detectives were notified “of a CODIS match” to that of Tracy, whose DNA had been collected pursuant to his arrest for a completely unrelated crime.
With the DNA match in hand, detectives found additional forensic evidence “confirming Tracy was a suspect in this case.” Tracy was then contacted by deputies and transported to Ventura County Jail, where he was booked on four felony counts involving the kidnapping and sexual assault of his 2013 victim. He remains in custody, with his bail set at $1,000,000.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
