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Upper East Side Serial Groper Strikes Again!
By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 3, 2011
Modified Aug 3, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 3, 2011
Modified Aug 3, 2011
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This weekend, we saw a report that a female victim had been sexually assaulted by a 4'11" man at Lexington Avenue and E 59th Street, and suspected that the Upper East Side groper who has been terrorizing women in Manhattan for the past seven months had struck again. Police confirmed that he did attack that woman on Saturday, but that wasn't his only one this weekend—he also assaulted another woman in Harlem early Sunday morning.
The 21-year-old victim described the attack to CBS, and the details of which sound very similar to accounts we've heard from two other victims of the groper: “He came towards me. He tried to speak, but I wouldn’t let him. So he tried to attack me, but I pushed him away. I pushed him away about two or three times. After he seen me fighting him away, he grabbed in between my legs,” she said. The woman said she threw things at him to ward him off, including a garbage can.
The victim echoed statements made by his other targets, who are worried the pint-sized groper's attacks may turn more serious soon: “Someone needs to stop him because he’s just going to keep on doing it until he tries something new,” she said. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday that detectives believe the suspect may be a kitchen worker because the incidents have occurred at “off hours.” One of the groper's victims told us that she believes she has seen him hanging out at the projects between 92nd and 93rd Streets on 1st Avenue.
Police advise that if you are a victim of the suspect, you should first call 911; then you should contact their local precinct and fill out a report. If someone sees a person who looks like the groper, they should contact Crimestoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). Victims can also directly call the Manhattan Special Victims Squad (who deal exclusively with sexual crimes) at 212-860-6857. Below, you can see a video of the suspect captured on July 17:
Tagged
attempted rape
groper
serial groper
upper east side
upper east side groper
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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