Surveillance video captures man sexually assaulting 81-year-old woman with dementia in California



The family of an elderly woman with dementia released video of her sexual assault in order to help police identify the suspect and arrest him.

The horrendous abuse unfolded on Monday at about 6:45 p.m. at the woman's apartment in Pacoima in southern California.

The video shows the man entering the home of the 81-year-old woman after she answered the door, according to the family. He then went and checked the other rooms before returning and assaulting the woman, and making her perform sex acts on him.

The victim's son-in-law spoke to KABC-TV about the execrable incident but wanted his face blurred to protect his identity and that of the victim.

"The video catches him doing things that I wouldn't wish on anyone," said the victim's relative. "There's a lot of elderly people in the community. This guy needs to be off the streets. It's probably not the first time and it won't be the last time he's done this, or will do this."

He said that the family had set up the camera so that no one could see it.

"The camera in the living room is pretty hidden and we hid it from her," the son-in-law explained. "To avoid her from trying to turn it off. And he never saw that camera in the living room."

On Friday afternoon, Los Angeles Police detectives told KABC they were able to identify and arrest a suspect. They said he was still in the area near the apartment complex where the woman lived.

The son-in-law told KTTV-TV that the woman had been diagnosed with early onset dementia.

"We think it’s pretty much progressed to Alzheimer’s already," he added.

The son-in-law said they were alerted to the incident when his wife noticed her mother was up later than usual. When they rewound the recording, they were stunned by seeing the assault.

The son-in-law told KTTV that he had a suspicion about who the attacker was.

"He’s known to be a lurker. He lurks around the area," he said.

He added that without the recording, they would have never known what happened because the woman doesn't remember the incident due to her medical illness.

Police said that they are investigating the incident as attempted rape.

Here's the report of the assault:

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Homeless man arrested for a spree of sexual battery incidents in broad daylight in California beach city, police say



A homeless man is accused of committing sexual battery against women in at least three incidents in a southern California beach city, according to police.

The Long Beach Police Department said in a press release that officers arrested Charles Larry Matthews, a 56-year-old homeless man over three incidents of sexual battery.

Officers arrested Matthews on Friday after they say he had committed sexual battery against a female adult victim at about 2 p.m near the intersection of Alamitos Avenue and Broadway Street. They then discovered that he had allegedly committed sexual battery against a female teenage victim 15 minutes prior to that incident near the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Broadway.

“Through their quick response time, officers were able to immediately locate and apprehend the suspect after the sexual battery incidents,” read a release from Long Beach police.

Investigators believe Matthews also committed sexual battery against another female adult victim at about 12:25 p.m. near the intersection of Molino Avenue and Anaheim two days prior to the two incidents.

Matthews was booked and charged for two counts of sexual battery.

Police say there may be other victims of sexual battery and are asking the public to contact detectives if they have any information that might help the investigation.

Critics of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón were outraged at a similar incident in November after he declined to file felony charges against a homeless man who assaulted a woman on the sidewalk.

KABC-TV spoke to the victim, Rebekkah Pederson, who said she was angry that the man was not charged appropriately.

"Did this man not see any of the footage," she asked. "I'm more angry than anything."

The median single-family home price in Long Beach is about $780k according to Rocket Homes.

Here's a news report about the incident:

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