Lancaster Parolee Convicted of 2015 Quartz Hill Attempted Murder and Sexual Assault

LANCASTER – A man convicted of the 1998 murder of a woman in Lancaster was found guilty of a second attack of a woman in 2015.

After serving his sentence for the 1998 strangulation murder of a 37-year-old woman, 48-year-old Leonard Earl Bales of Palmdale was released from prison. In the early morning hours of September 26, 2015, according to court testimony, Bales strangled the woman unconscious, kidnapped her and took her to a vacant home in Quartz Hill. He proceeded to drag, tie, bind, and sexually assault the 35-year-old victim.

After the apparently planned attack, the woman escaped from the bindings and ran naked from the home. She went to a neighboring home, where police were called.

After a weeklong trial, the jury found Bales guilty of one count each of forcible oral copulation; kidnapping to commit oral copulation; attempted willful, deliberate and premeditated murder; criminal threats; assault with a deadly weapon, belt; false imprisonment by violence and assault with intent to commit oral copulation.

Bales is scheduled to be sentenced on February 3, 2017, at the Antelope Valley Superior Court. Bale faces 90 years to life in prison.

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