A 29-year-old Santa Monica man was arrested on Wednesday, Dec. 17, after grabbing the buttocks of a minor at a business on the Third Street Promenade.
An officer of the Santa Monica Police Department Public Service Department was flagged down by a minor in the 300 block of Santa Monica Boulevard at 3 pm on this day.
The minor told the Public Service Officer that she had been the victim of a sexual assault.
She added that she had been inside a business that was located in the 1400 block of Third Street Promenade when she felt her buttocks being grabbed from behind.
She looked around and saw a white male with a long brown beard wearing a tan blazer standing behind her.
A radio call informed some other nearby officers of the suspect’s description and the other officers soon apprehended him.
This 29-year-old resident of Santa Monica was identified by the minor and questioned by the officers.
The officers then arrested the suspect and he was taken to jail and later charged with sexual battery. Bail was set at $20,000.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of The Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
