After 2 Women Groped In Parkland, They Help Put Groper In Jail

PARKLAND, WA - A self-identified gang member and killer groped two women along Pacific Avenue recently, apparently while carrying a gun, according to the Pierce County Sheriff. The groping incidents happened last weekend along a stretch of Pacific Avenue between of SR 512 and Tule Lake Road.

The first incident happened around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. A man walked up behind a woman standing at the Cafe Elite espresso stand and grabbed her buttocks. She called 911 to report the assault.

Just a few minutes later, a teenage girl called 911 to report that a man was stalking her near the Paradise Bowling Alley. The teen told 911 that the man was carrying a gun.

When police arrived, the teen told them the man approached her outside the Walgreens near 121st Street South and began talking to her, including making sexual comments and telling her he's in a gang and had "killed a lot of people."

The teen headed to the Paradise Bowling Alley to get away, but the man, who called himself "Cruz," followed and began groping her. He also hit her with a comb, according to police.

The two women gave police descriptions of the suspect, and a Washington State Patrol trooper spotted him at the Parkland Transit Center. After arresting Cruz, police brought the two victims to the scene to identify him. They told police they were "100 percent" positive it was the same man who groped them.

Cruz was taken to the Pierce County Jail on charges of indecent liberties and felony harassment. Police did not find him in possession of a gun.

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