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Police are looking for a man accused of assaulting two different women in their own homes in East Hollywood and Historic Filipinotown on Monday. The first alleged attack happened just after noon on Monday, August 1. A surveillance camera showed a man entering an apartment building in the 800 block of North Mariposa Street in East Hollywood as a resident of the building exits. He then let himself into a woman's apartment after she left the door unlocked to go to the building's laundry room, according to a release from the LAPD.
The man was seen using his shirt to cover his hand as turned the doorknob, most likely in an attempt to avoid leaving fingerprints, NBC Los Angeles reports.
When the woman returned to her apartment, the man allegedly covered her mouth with his hand and shoved her against a wall. The woman fell to the ground and screamed, and the man fled.
About an hour later, surveillance footage picked up the same man walking through a parking garage and using a stairwell to enter an apartment building in the 1600 block of Cortez Street in Historic Filipinotown. Here, he once again let himself into an unlocked apartment. The woman who lived there was alerted to his presence by her barking dogs. The woman told police that when she confronted the man and asked him what he was doing, he said, "You're pretty. I want to make you mine." The man then allegedly began to grope the woman as he pinned her against her couch. The woman's dogs attacked the man, biting his legs, causing him to flee.
"He obviously waited for people to open up the apartment building doors and then made entry into the apartment building," LAPD Officer Mike Lopez told CBS Los Angeles. "The video shows he then uses his T-shirt to see if any doors are unlocked. He’s trying to be a smart guy by not leaving any finger prints on the door knobs.”
The man has been described as a black male in his late 20s. He is about 6 feet tall and 170 to 190 pounds. At the time of both attacks, he was wearing jeans, a green T-shirt with an image of the Virgin Mary on it and white shoes. In video from the first attack, he can be seen holding a plastic bag.
Anyone with information should call the Rampart Burglary Detective Officer Riddle at 213-484-3487 or Detective Galvan at 213-484-3486. Anonymous tips can be submitted via Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222- 8477.
