A 71-year-old Brentwood man was arrested and charged with sexual battery on Saturday, Aug. 15, after groping a woman in a story on Third Street Promenade.
At 2 pm officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the 1300 block of the Promenade in order to investigate a report of sexual battery.
When the officers arrived they spoke with the victim who told them that she had entered the business in question in order to charge her cell phone.
She added that she could not find a seat so she decided to stand next to a high table that was situated in the middle of the store.
She said that as she was doing this she suddenly felt someone bump her from behind.
She said that at first she didn’t pay much attention to this but when she felt a body pressing against her and moving in a grinding motion with their hands on her hip she turned around and saw the suspect.
She told the officers that the suspect put his index finger over his lips and say, “shhh.”
The victim said that initially she froze in a state of disbelief but then yelled out that she had been sexually assaulted.
At this, she said, the suspect quietly walked away and stood in line at the counter.
When, however, an employee began to call the police the suspect left the store and walked away.
Other officers, armed with a description of the suspect went in search and soon spotted him at the intersection of Fourth Street and Santa Monica Blvd.
This man was arrested and 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.
