DNA Links Former Probation Officer to 1995 Rape

The suspect of a 1995 kidnapping and sexual assault that occurred in Glendora will be serving time for his crime after police received word of a positive DNA match collected in the cold case.

Earnest Pettway, 53, will serve 15 years in prison for the crime, police said Wednesday. In July of 1995, an employee was cleaning the offices of the National Hot Rod Association, 2035 E. Financial Way. As the female exited the building just after midnight, Pettway emerged from some nearby bushes, produced a handgun and ordered the victim to undress. According to a Glendora Police press release, she was raped.

In September 2010, received notification of a DNA match from the Cold Hit Outcome Project after running the forensic evidence through the state data bank. Glendora detectives reopened the case and interviewed Pettway in prison already serving a combined 71 years for two similar crimes from Santa Monica and Los Angeles.

Pettway, a former probation officer, denied involvement in the Glendora crime, however, DNA collected by Glendora detectives proved an exact match to evidence collected from the 1995 sexual assault, police said.

“Sexual assaults committed by a suspect not known to the victim are extremely rare in Glendora,” said Glendora Police Chief Rob Castro.  “In the vast majority of sexual assault cases we investigate, the victim knows the suspect, who is usually an acquaintance or family member.”

Implemented by the California Department of Justice, the Cold Hit Outcome Project provides a way for authorities and the District Attorney's Office to share information and provide notifications on changes in cases involving the collection of forensic samples for DNA analysis, according to information provided by the Countywide Criminal Justice Coordination Committee.