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Upper East Side Women Worry About Serial Groper: "I'm Not Going Out At Night"
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 19, 2011
Modified Jul 19, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 19, 2011
Modified Jul 19, 2011
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The police hunt for man who has been suspected of attacking at least seven women on the Upper East Side has residents on edge. One woman told WCBS 2, "I'm not going out at night, simple as that. Or I go out with friends."
A reader told us about her creepy encounter with the man, saying she had gotten off the 6 train at 77th Street at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning when a man—matching the the description of the groper (a Latino male between the ages of 25 and 30, about 4-foot-11 and 120 pounds with black hair)—asked her for directions. She walked home about three blocks to her non-doorman building on 78th Street: "I let myself in and then as I am climbing I start hear footsteps softly ascending behind me as I am going up. That was my first clue. I monitor the steps to see if they stop and enter an apartment. They don't -- and when I reach the sixth floor and turn around -- there he is on the landing below me. I loudly say 'WHOA, WHOA -- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' and stare him down. He pauses, wide-eyed, unsure, and then just turns around and runs away."
The suspect's MO apparently is to follow women to their buildings and then touches them after they open their buildings' doors. A male resident of the neighborhood told WCBS 2, "I live in this neighborhood, and this is the seventh time I’ve heard about this groper. He’s going to get progressively worse…I’d like to catch him myself."
Tagged
attack
groper
serial groper
upper east side
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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