A Northern California sex offender with a history of parole violations cut off his ankle monitor and went on a two-day crime spree in which he tried to rob or kidnap several women and teenage girls at knifepoint in the San Diego area, authorities said.

Leonard Scroggins, 32, was arrested at a park in National City on Wednesday after police spotted a minivan with a license plate number matching that provided by a purse-snatching victim.

He remained jailed without bail on Friday after being booked for robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, evading a peace officer and attempted kidnapping. The district attorney's office said it expected to charge him Monday.

Scroggins, who was released from state prison in March, removed a GPS bracelet strapped to his ankle and left Napa County on Monday, parole officials said.

The tampering automatically alerted parole officials and a warrant for his arrest was issued.

Scroggins is believed to have demanded money from a 17-year-old girl in Chula Vista at about 9 p.m. Tuesday but she ran off, said Chula Vista police Capt. Gary Wedge.

Scroggins also is suspected of trying to pull a woman into a car less than an hour later, Wedge said. The woman struggled and was stabbed in the arm before she broke free and ran, he said. Scroggins also is suspected of stealing a purse in National City Wednesday afternoon and later putting a knife to the throat of a 13-year-old girl and trying to drag her into his car.

State Corrections records show that Scroggins has a history of parole violations.

He was paroled in 1999 after serving time for violating a state law prohibiting aiding or abetting rape or penetration with a foreign object but went back to prison that same year, and again in 2001 and 2002 for parole violations.

In 2004 he was imprisoned for making a terrorist threat. He was released in January but was back in custody the next month for parole violations, before finally being released March 6.

After his release, Scroggins had registered as a transient sex offender, said Napa County sheriff's Capt. Tracey Stuart.

Monday, authorities received an allegation that Scroggins had fondled a 14-year-old relative during a family gathering May 13, and investigating deputies then determined that his location monitor was no longer working, Stuart said.