Security video may offer clues in assault case

Deepa Bharath

A surveillance tape from a local convenience store, which captures a

young man reaching under a customer’s skirt, may help police find one

of the men responsible for a series of assaults on the city’s

Westside, officials said.

The woman, believed to be in her mid-20s, reported the groping to

police Monday afternoon, shortly after it happened at the 7-Eleven at

Victoria Street and Placentia Avenue, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. John

FitzPatrick.

“The surveillance tape shows the man reaching under the victim’s

skirt and touching her,” he said.

Detectives, who obtained the surveillance tape from the store

manager, believe that the man on the tape looks similar to one of the

six men wanted in connection with the assaults on Victoria Street,

FitzPatrick said. Police have released two composite sketches so far.

Almost all of the attacks, which happened on a stretch of Victoria

Street between December and April, involved the assailants grabbing

the women from behind and fondling them.

Monday’s incident could well take police officers closer to an

arrest, FitzPatrick said.

On April 25, a younger man grabbed two women in a Victoria Street

apartment complex. Police believe that was probably a copycat

incident. Monday’s incident brings the total number of victims to 11.

Police have been distributing fliers in the Westside neighborhood

informing residents about the attacks and asking them to be cautious.

The Costa Mesa Police Department held the first of its two Rape

Awareness seminars Tuesday night, but it was unattended, FitzPatrick

said.

“It was extremely disappointing,” he said. “It appears that the

community is apathetic to the issue.”

The department had arranged for a detective, a crime prevention

expert and a Spanish translator to conduct the seminar, FitzPatrick

said. The second seminar is scheduled to be held at 7 p.m. on May 13

in the Costa Mesa Police Department’s auditorium. The department is

at 99 Fair Drive. The seminar will offer various safety tips and

information on where victims can receive counseling, FitzPatrick

said.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@ latimes.com.