Man ruled competent to stand trial in Rohnert Park assault attempt

A Rohnert Park man accused of raping an 81-year-old woman and lurking outside her apartment nine months later in a foiled assault attempt was found mentally fit Monday to stand trial.

After reviewing a psychologist's report, Judge Arthur Wick said Paul Vernon Sullenger, 46, could be tried on five felony counts including suspected rape, burglary, oral copulation with threats and terrorizing.

Wick set a preliminary hearing for Jan. 14.

“It appears the defendant is competent to proceed,” Wick said.

Sullenger, who served 12 years in a Texas prison for a 1994 sexual assault, was arrested in September on charges he raped a Rohnert Park woman late last year who lives in a 170-unit senior housing complex on Enterprise Drive.

Detectives said a DNA sample taken from the rape scene matched a sample in a federal database.

Authorities allege he broke into her apartment early on the evening of Nov. 2 and assaulted her for about 40 minutes before fleeing through a bedroom window.

On June 20, the same woman was awakened by the sound of barking dogs and, looking out her window, saw a man climbing over the fence from her back courtyard, police said.

Fingerprints from the registered sex offender matched those taken from her patio after the second break-in attempt, police said.