COUNTYWIDE : Man Denies Guilt in Phone Threats Case

A Los Angeles County man suspected of terrorizing hundreds of Ventura County women with lurid, threatening phone calls pleaded not guilty Monday in Ventura County Superior Court.

Steven Imler, 37, is charged with 16 counts of making terrorist threats, two counts of making annoying phone calls and one count of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child under age 14. He decided not to have a preliminary hearing, and his trial is scheduled to begin July 8 before Judge Frederick A. Jones.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrice E. Koenig said Imler typically would call a woman and falsely tell her that he had her husband bound and gagged. He would order the woman to perform sex acts on herself and describe them to him, Koenig said, and threatened to shoot the husband if the woman did not comply.

Imler is suspected of making more than 500 calls to residents of four counties, investigators said, including about 300 to Ventura County women. The Ventura and Los Angeles county sheriff’s departments came close to arresting Imler after tracing some of his calls, investigators said, but Imler turned himself in after his employer confronted him.

Imler remains free on $5,000 bail.