Banning Man Pleads Not Guilty to Attempted Murder and Rape in Cabazon Attack

A Banning man accused of severely beating and raping a woman in Cabazon on April 4 pleaded not guilty Monday to attempted murder and forcible rape, a Riverside County district attorney's spokesman said.

Joseph Jimmy Blancarte, 47, appeared Monday in Riverside Superior Court, said District Attorney's spokesman John Hall. Blancarte has a felony settlement conference scheduled May 3.

The woman, who is in her 40s and believed to be homeless, has been hospitalized since the alleged attack, Sgt. Sean Bahash of the sheriff's Cabazon Station said Monday.

She was found unconscious with massive head trauma about 7:20 a.m. on April 4 in the 14000 block of Citrus Avenue in Cabazon, Bahash said.

Deputies and CalFire personnel rendered aid to the woman, and she was taken to a hospital where she underwent surgery, Bahash said.

Blancarte left Riverside County after the alleged attack and he was arrested April 6 at the Greyhound bus station in Modesto, Bahash said.

Cabazon Station investigators brought Blancarte back to the Pass, where he was booked at Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.

Blancarte was known to Banning police and the sheriff's department from prior arrests for public intoxication, Bahash said.

He was arrested five days before the alleged attack in Cabazon for misdemeanor disorderly conduct involving drugs or alcohol, according to Bahash and inmate records. He was arrested March 30 and released March 31.

Blancarte was behind bars Monday afternoon at Smith Correctional in Banning, and his bail was $1,005,000, a jailer said in a phone interview.

Anyone with further information was urged to call Investigator Jackie Lane at the Cabazon Station, (951) 922-7100, the sheriff's dispatch center at 1 (800) 950-2444, or send an email to CabazonStation@riversidesheriff.org.