Yesterday SantaCruz.com reported that a teenage girl was assaulted in Ocean View Park on Saturday. A second attack occurred in Arana Gulch Sunday evening. The victim, an 18-year-old girl, was walking in the area at about 6:30pm when a man approached her from behind with a knife and attempted to attack her. She said that something startled him and he fled into an adjacent wooded area.
The victim later described him to police as a Hispanic male of about 5 feet 7 inches tall and having a scruffy beard. Police have determined that the description of the suspect, as well as the location of the assault and the method, seem to indicate that this was a different perpetrator. Polie searched the area and handed out leaflets with a description of the perpetrator.
While some people are nervous about two attacks occurring on as many days, the SCPD says that sexual assaults against women have actually declined over the past 12 months. They added that this was the first time a woman was sexually attacked in Arana Gulch in the past 10 years. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Fox 35.
