Palo Alto Police ID Construction Worker As Suspect In Harassment Of Boy, 11

PALO ALTO, CA – Palo Alto police detectives reviewed video surveillance footage and said today they identified a male suspect wanted for allegedly harassing an 11-year-old boy on a sidewalk Monday afternoon.

The man, a construction worker in his 20s, who also matched the child's description, was contacted by police at his job site on a street near the incident reported on Colorado Avenue, police said.

The police department obtained a statement from the unidentified man and is sending the case to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office to review for possible criminal charges. No arrest has occurred.

The investigation began when the boy's parent on Monday called officers reporting the child said he was walking east on the 700 block of Colorado when he noticed a man standing in front of a 7-Eleven store across the street, police said. The man allegedly crossed the street, stopped on the sidewalk in front of the boy and greeted him.

The boy ignored him and walked past, but the man put his hand on the boy's shoulder from behind and asked his name, police said. The boy shrugged the man's hand off, ran home and told the parent, who called police shortly before 3:30 p.m.

The man was described as an Hispanic man with facial hair and a Spanish accent. He was reportedly wearing a blue shirt.

"As the conduct described by the victim could be a misdemeanor, police are not allowed by state law to make an arrest for a misdemeanor that is not committed in their presence," the agency said. "As such, and per standard police procedure, the District Attorney’s Office will review the case. Since no arrest has occurred, police will not be identifying the suspect, his precise age, or his city of residence. If the District Attorney’s Office files charges and the suspect is later arrested, we will identify the suspect at that future point."

Detectives do not believe this suspect is connected to the similar incident that occurred in Palo Alto on October 17.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.

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--Image via Patch files