MAN, 72, ACCUSED OF HARASSING WOMEN IN PARKING LOT, CRAWLING UNDER CARS
A 72-year-old man accused of harassing women in a Grantville parking lot, crawling under their cars and refusing to come out, faces misdemeanor criminal charges, the San Diego City Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
The man has been charged with battery and two counts of false imprisonment for alleged encounters in August.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the man previously has been investigated for similar behavior. Authorities are now asking other possible victims to come forward.
In the recent encounters — one on Aug. 3, the other on Aug. 13 — the man approached a woman as she got into her car at a shopping center, according to a sworn affidavit seeking his arrest. The affidavit, penned by a deputy city attorney, lays out accusations old and new.
In the Aug. 3 incident, the victim told investigators that a stranger approached as she walked out of work at a Friars Road shopping center. The man said the victim’s car appeared to be leaking.
He got under the car — then asked the victim to drive back and forth with him under the car. She got in, rolled up the windows and called her supervisor for help.
She said he later grabbed her arm and said, “You’re so pretty, you can flatten me out anytime.” He also told the victim and her supervisor that they were both pretty and should go with him.
Two days later, the victim saw the man approach a blond woman in the parking lot and get under her car. She saw the blond woman drive back and forth a few times, then drive away. She also saw the man jump into his white Chevrolet truck and follow the woman.
On the afternoon of Aug. 13, an off-duty police officer saw the defendant approach another woman in the same shopping center and get under her car. The officer ordered the man to come out.
He did so, then yelled at the officer and drove away.
The off-duty officer was one of the officers investigating the Aug. 3 encounter.
According to the affidavit, the defendant had similarly bizarre encounters to two other women in 2018 and 2019.
The defendant also reportedly had been investigated on suspicion of stalking a woman for two years and slashing her husband’s tires.
It was not immediately clear what became of the older accusations. But according to the City Attorney’s Office, the defendant’s criminal record includes multiple convictions, including weapons violations and burglary.
The City Attorney’s Office said that in several of the encounters, the man drove a white Chevrolet truck with license plate HINUF.
Authorities asked others who may have been a victim to contact the San Diego Police Department’s Eastern Division Investigations Unit at (858) 495-7900.