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Joshua Tree man accused of sexual assault in two civil lawsuits

Update 8/01/24 @ 1:16PM: The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office released the following statement to Z107.7:

“The network disruption we experienced last year has not affected the ability to investigate these incidents, nor does it impact the ability to pursue them criminally. Both victims were provided with a copy of their report. The investigation is ongoing and no additional information is being released at this time.”

The LA Times article mentions the randomware hack of the Sheriff’s Department that ended up costing the Sheriff’s Department and San Bernardino County $1.1 million dollars.


The owner of Joshua Tree’s iconic “Doolittle House” has been accused of sexual assault in a new lawsuit, according to a report by the LA Times.

Two residents of the Morongo Basin, Jamie-Lee Dimes and Courtney Barriger told the Los Angeles Times that Scott Leonard, the owner of the Doolittle House on Mt. Shasta Drive in Joshua Tree since 2021, allegedly brought them back to the house where they were drugged and assaulted. Two separate civil lawsuits were filed against Leonard in Los Angeles Superior Court this week.

No arrests have been made in either assault. Z107.7 has reached out to the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department to inquire about the status of the investigations into both assaults, but a spokesperson has not yet provided a statement.

The Doolittle house was designed by architect Kendrick Bangs Kellogg in the 1980 and took more than 20 years to be built. It has had several owners since it was built. It is one of the Morongo Basin’s most famous structures, and is recognized internationally as one of the prime examples of a movement called “organic architecture.”


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