Toe-Sucking North OC Flasher Thought He Was Zeus

SEAL BEACH, CA — A brazen 29-year-old homeless man who claimed he was a god-like character sent down from heaven to seduce women was convicted Wednesday of breaking into a woman's home and sucking on her toes. He was also convicted of exposing himself to a jail guard and another woman in separate incidents, court records show.

Richard Michael Parkhurst received a conviction in one felony burglary count and three misdemeanors -- one count of peeking into an inhabited building and two counts of indecent exposure.

Jurors deadlocked on a felony count of assault with the intent to commit a sex offense, a count dismissed by prosecutors.

His reasons for committing these crimes were "delusional," according to Parkhurst's attorney.

"Mr. Parkhurst developed a delusion that he was a Zeus-like god who was sent down from the stars to seduce women," his attorney wrote. "It was his destiny to seduce women, and they would willingly have his children. Mr. Parkhurst believes that is progeny will create a super race that will save the planet."

Parkhurst also was known to compliment his targets in random meetings outside of their homes before he performed his bizarre breaking-and-entering scenarios.

On Oct. 15, 2017, Parkhurst exposed himself to a woman who was walking her dog in Seal Beach, remarking to her, "Nice dog," before adding, "I am walking mine, too," according to court papers.

On the same day, he sneaked into the woman's residence.

"She was sleeping on her couch and woke up when she realized he was sucking on her toes," according to prosecutors. DNA evidence linked him to that crime.

On Oct. 16, 2017, Parkhurst allegedly peeked through a mail slot of a home in the same city, two days after he passed by the residence and remarked that the resident's girlfriend was attractive.

While Parkhurst was in custody that day, a guard at the Seal Beach jail caught him touching himself while staring at her, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors alleged he also passed a perverse note to a jail guard while housed in the Orange County Jail.

Parkhurst's attorney said in court papers that the defendant was homeless at the time.

When his girlfriend died, he lost his home and stopped taking medicine for schizophrenia, according to his attorney, who said Parkhurst "began hearing voices emanating from his television, telling him to do things" before being hospitalized at one point.

Parkhurst is scheduled to be sentenced April 5 at the North Justice Center, but that hearing is expected to be rescheduled.

City News Service contributed to this report.