Sex offender allegedly kidnapped girl from West Oakland RV park
OAKLAND — Two years after being convicted of committing a lewd act upon a child, a local resident is back in jail facing charges that he kidnapped a 15-year-old girl from an RV park in West Oakland, then sexually assaulted her at his home eight miles away.
Kevin Gene Harris, 39, of Oakland, was charged June 1 with one count of kidnapping to commit a sex crime, and one count of forcible rape. In addition to those felony counts, Harris is being charged with violating his parole on a 2021 child molestation conviction that required him to register as a sex offender, according to court records.
The evidence against him included eyewitness identification and a DNA match, according to prosecutors.
Police allege that in December 2022, Harris abducted a 15-year-old girl as she walked to a portable restroom at an RV park at 20th Street and Willow Avenue in West Oakland, near the Wood Street commons. He allegedly put her into the backseat, with child locks turned on, and drove her roughly eight miles to his home on 38th Avenue.
There, Harris allegedly sexually assaulted the girl repeatedly, but ended the attack when he realized he had to leave to pick up his daughter. On the drive back, he allegedly put his number on the teen’s phone and invited her to see him again, police say.
After the girl returned to her family, a relative angrily called Harris using the number the girl was given, and demanded he return the girl’s belongings, police say. When Harris returned, several family members got a good look at him and provided investigators a description of him and his car, police say.
In February 2020, Harris was charged with multiple counts of sex abuse, including unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, and sodomy and oral copulation with a child younger than 16. In June 2021, he pleaded no contest to a single count of committing a lewd act upon a child, and was sentenced to three years in state prison. Five months later, he was released from jail, having halved his sentence with good behavior, court records show.
The 2021 conviction required Harris to register as a sex offender and provide a DNA sample, court records show. Police say analysts used a rape test kit from the December 2022 abduction to match Harris’ DNA with that DNA sample.
Harris has pleaded not guilty and is in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. Because of his parole violation charge, he cannot be bailed out. His next court date, a pretrial hearing, has been set for July 5.