LAKE FOREST, Calif., June 1 (UPI) -- A former NASCAR driver was arrested in California and charged with attempted rape shortly after he completed a jail sentence for reckless driving, police said.
James Neal, 56, was arrested Monday after police received a report of a disturbance involving a man and a woman in her Lake Forest apartment, The Orange County Register reported.
The woman, 55, told police Neal, whom she had met once before, tried to rape her and would not allow her to leave, said Jim Amormino, an Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman.
Neal was arrested on charges of attempted rape, false imprisonment and burglary, Amormino said.
Neal was in police custody with bail set at $1 million.
On May 18, Neal was arrested for exceeding 140 mph after police chased him for 50 miles, the Register said.
Neal pleaded guilty in that case and was sentenced to a month in prison and three years probation. He was released Monday and, within 2 hours, he was at the Lake Forest woman's apartment, police said.
Neal raced in NASCAR's regional series in the early 1980s but was not a national driver, The San Diego Union-Tribune said.
