Man Arrested In Connection With String Of Westside Sexual Assaults
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A man was arrested in connection with a string of sexual assaults across the Westside, the Santa Monica Police Department said Wednesday.
The suspect, Pablo Pineda, is most re
cently accused of sexually assaulting a woman in West LA, near Stoner Park on July 2.
In that attack, a woman who was walking home said she was grabbed from behind, dragged across a street to a dark path and thrown onto the ground, where she was raped. When she fought back, the suspect struck her several times, she told police.
Pineda is also accused of raping two women on the beach in Santa Monica: one in January and the other in February. He's also accused of a rape in Beverly Hills in April in which he allegedly hit his victim with a brick to subdue her.
Police are still looking for the suspect or suspects responsible for two other sexual assaults in West LA reported within a week and-a-half of the July 2 attack.
"Three of them in less than 10 days. It's unbelievable," West LA resident Barbara Jenkins said. "I've never been this acres to live here. It's terrifying."
Pineda is being held in lieu of $385,000 bail.
