DNA cold hit yields rape suspect
Loan officer has been charged in attacks on two Costa Mesa women, in 1998 and in 2003.

By JOHN McDONALD

COSTA MESA – A 34-year-old loan officer has been charged with a rape and a sexual assault as a result of what officials described Tuesday as the state's 2,000th "cold hit" from DNA samples run in connection with Prop. 69.

Ronald Steven Krokum is being held at the Orange County Jail on charges he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a woman in Costa Mesa in February 1998 and that he raped another woman in Costa Mesa in April 2003.

He was first linked to the February 1998 assault by DNA samples he provided to the Orange County probation department in June 2005, following his arrest for possession of methamphetamine.

Krokum's DNA sample, obtainable only due to the provisions of Proposition 69, were entered in the state databank. The proposition, passed in 2004, allows the taking of DNA samples from all convicted felons and those convicted of some misdemeanors.

A "cold hit" is where there was no evidence linking a suspect to a crime until the DNA match is made.

After he was connected with the 1998 assault, police reviewed the April 2003 rape. The victim had identified him in that case, but there was insufficient evidence to prosecute, officials said. Costa Mesa police said that the similarity of the first crime gave them enough evidence to bring charges against him for the 2003 rape.