Peninsula Police Seeking Suspect in Sexual Battery Incident

By ALEXANDER NGUYEN (Patch Staff)

Palo Alto, CA -- Police are seeking a man who allegedly grabbed a woman’s breasts Tuesday inside her Palo Alto home after he offered to do garden work for her, police announced Sunday.

Around 2:30 p.m. the victim called police to report a sexual battery incident that occurred at her residence in the 3400 block of Kenneth Drive, according to police.

Officers learned the woman was home alone when she answered a knock at the door, police said.

The suspect appeared and asked the woman if she needed any gardening work done. She then invited the suspect inside and together they walked to the home’s backyard, discussing what needed to be done around the house, according to police.

When the two were unable to come to an agreement about the garden work, they walked back through the house. The suspect offered to give the woman a massage, police said.

When she told him she was not interested in the massage, the suspect began massaging the victim’s neck and shoulders anyway. The victim told the man to stop and that she was going to call the police.

The suspect then grabbed the woman’s breasts over her clothing. The woman elbowed the man away and again said she was going to call the police, according to police.

The man ultimately left the house and drove away in a truck, police said.

Police described the suspect as a Hispanic man, between 30 and 40 years old, about 5 feet and 7 inches tall, weighing about 170 pounds. He had short straight black hair and was wearing a T-shirt and blue jeans, according to police. Police described the suspect vehicle as a green pick-up truck with writing on the side that may have begun with the word “Red.”

The victim was not injured during the incident, police said.

Anyone with information about the suspect or suspect vehicle is asked to contact Palo Alto police at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent by text message or voicemail to (650) 383-8984.

--Bay City News Service, photo via Shutterstock