Ex-Asheville man facing LA sex crime charges has court date; said not guilty of 4 charges
A former Asheville resident has entered pleas to four of 12 sex crime charges, saying he is not guilty of the felonies police say he committed over several years in Los Angeles "using elaborate ruses to conceal his identity."
It is not clear if Benjamin Parke Belser, 36, will enter pleas on the other eight charges during his next court appearance or at another time. That appearance will be Sept. 14, according to Los Angeles Superior Court records. The pleas were listed on Belser's online public criminal case summary.
Belser was arrested Feb. 4 and is being held in the North County Correctional Facility under a $6.2 million bond. His attorney, Michael Levin, declined to comment Aug. 1. The Citizen Times reached out to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Belser went to Asheville High, where Citizen Times archives showed he was a senior on the debate team in February 2005. He later moved to Saluda, according to state voting records, and at some point to South Los Angeles, where he worked as a college admissions adviser. Records show him as a registered voter in Saluda from 2016-2020, a period overlapping with the alleged assaults in Los Angeles.
David Belser, his father, was a prominent Asheville defense attorney. His mother, Susan Parke, is an attorney and former Citizen Times food writer. Parke has not returned messages seeking comment.
Police say Belser in 2017 began contacting women through social media and dating apps using "elaborate ruses to conceal his identity." The sexual assaults continued until at least 2022, officers alleged, saying that is the year they started their investigation.
"Belser used various aliases to avoid detection. He is a white male who stands 6-feet-5-inches tall, weighs 170 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Witnesses described him as having a distinctive body odor," police said in a press release.
The charges
Belser pleaded not guilty to one count of rape, one count of forced sodomy, one count of forced sexual penetration with a foreign object and one count of forced oral copulation. The full 12 charges:
Two counts of forceful rape 261(A)(2).
Four counts of forced sodomy 286(C)(2)(A).
Two counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object by force or menace 289(A)(1)(A).
Two counts of forced oral copulation 287(C)(2)(A).
Two counts of oral copulation using force or fear 288A(C)(2)(A).
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Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Ex-Asheville man facing felony LA sex crime charges has new court date
