After 10 Convictions, Serial Groper Ordered Off LA Mass Transit

LOS ANGELES, CA — A Los Angeles man was ordered to stay off buses and trains Tuesday after his 10th conviction for groping women and children riding on public transportaion.

Time and time again Ager Linder, 27, has ended up in handcuffs for groping unsuspecting victims on Metro buses and other public transportation lines, often while pretending to be asleep.On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria B. Wilson Linder to just stay off buses and trains. He was also ordered to serve 54 months on probation, along with a 364-day jail term that he's already completed and undergo a one-year residential mental health counseling program. He'll also have to register as a sex offender for life.

Prosecutors contend Linder would board buses and trains, pretend to be asleep and then grab a victim.

He pleaded no contest in December to three counts of sexual battery, two counts of child molestation and one count of battery on a public transportation passenger for groping five women and three girls, ranging in age from 15 to 27, on eight separate occasions while riding Metro buses through the Mid-City area between last May and August, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

Linder was previously convicted in nine separate cases, as recently as January 2018, for conduct related to groping on public transportation. He was on probation for the January 2018 conviction for victimizing at least four women while riding the Metro Red Line. In each of those incidents, Linder approached the victims and grabbed their breasts, buttocks or other body parts, according to Deputy City Attorney Brad Rothenberg.

Linder's prior convictions involved groping female bus riders in North Hollywood, Hollywood, Mid-City, Culver City, Norwalk, West Los Angeles and Long Beach.

"Passengers on our public transit systems must be safe," City Attorney Mike Feuer said late last year. "The defendant's actions are outrageous and deplorable. We will do everything we can to hold him accountable and protect transit riders."

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report. Photo: Shutterstock