POLICE: Man Out on Bail for Ex's Rape Attacks Her Again

LADERA RANCH, Calif. -- A man suspected of attacking his girlfriend twice in several weeks is scheduled to be arraigned today.

Mark Alan Jarosik, 44, is being held without bail at Orange County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder. The second attack, on Monday, left the woman with severe head trauma.

Monday's attack, which appears to be a domestic dispute between a live-in boyfriend and girlfriend, occurred early in the morning as many residents in the family-oriented community prepared for work and school. At 7:50 a.m., residents in the close-knit neighborhood of The Gables heard a woman's screams.

Orange County sheriff's deputies responded to frantic 9-1-1 calls and found Jarosik held by neighbors after an attack occurred on an unidentified woman in her 40s. The woman was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo with severe head trauma.

The attack happened at a cluster of mailboxes in front of Laura Wilson's house. Wilson tried to call 9-1-1 twice but couldn't get through. Many other calls were flooding in.

Wilson said she witnessed no argument before the attack. She said Jarosik just rushed over and started pummeling the victim. Her husband went to help the woman after Jarosik was brought under control.

"My husband brought a pillow out," she said. "It's part of evidence now. It was covered with blood."

Sheriff's officials believe that Jarosik may also have attempted to break into the woman's house, which he at one time shared with her, on Sunday night. He also was suspected of attacking her several weeks before and had been charged with rape and attempted sodomy with a foreign object, according to court records.

He was arraigned on those charges in May and pleaded not guilty Friday to both counts. On Saturday, he was released on $100,000 bail. He was set to have his pretrial hearing July 1, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for July 24.

Commissioner James Odriozola set bail at the scheduled amount for such a crime - $100,000, prosecutors said. There was no argument to either raise or lower the bail.

Assistant District Attorney Roseanne Froeberg, who is in charge of the district attorney's sex-crimes prosecution unit, said there is always a concern in a rape case that the accused might attack again.

"We are always concerned about the safety of the community," she said.

But in order to have bail set at higher than the adopted schedule, a prosecutor would have to show aggravating circumstances not connected to the underlying charge - for example, a criminal record.

In Jarosik's case, there was no aggravating circumstance, Froeberg said.

Bail was posted by Jarosik's mother and sister, who came from Chicago to retrieve him.

For some in Ladera who witnessed the Monday morning attack, it seemed to come out of nowhere. But Jarosik's family said the relationship between Jarosik and the woman has been the cause of much pain and controversy in their family.

Mark Jarosik, according to his brother, left his wife and three children in Chicago to pursue a relationship with the woman, who was divorced with children. An architect with a master's degree from the University of Illinois, he left his business and came out to California to be with "his soulmate," he told his family.

He went to work in Orange County managing an architectural firm. The couple lived together in a home in Ladera Ranch.

"It was a serious relationship, and they were planning to get married," Eric Jarosik said Monday. "He would call us every six months but he'd always be really quick on the phone, saying he was really busy. He seemed happy. He'd tell us one thing but what really went on, we don't know."

Eric Jarosik said he would see pictures of the woman but added his family had no contact with her. He said his mother and sister had flown to Orange County to meet with his brother and make sure he had "gotten the woman out of his mind."

Eric said his brother assured his mother he was ready to change his life and to return to Chicago to rebuild his business there.

Once he was bailed out, Mark Jarosik - who had a restraining order against him - told his mother he had left some belongings with a neighbor in Ladera Ranch. On Monday, they dropped him off near a local grocery store from where he told them he would pick up his belongings.

That's when he is suspected of encountering the woman and the attack occurred.

"This is crazy," said Eric Jarosik. "My mom is so upset. She had him on a plane tomorrow ready to go back to Chicago to be reunited with his three children."