Palo Alto Police Arrest Alleged Peeping Tom
PALO ALTO (CBS SF) -- A 20-year-old man was arrested after he repeatedly harassed a woman, made a lewd comment and then came onto her property and looked in her windows, according to the Palo Alto Police Department.
Carlos Alfredo Bejinez, an East Palo Alto resident, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of peeping and driving with a suspended license, both misdemeanors, as well as felony probation violation, police said.
At about 5:20 p.m. Thursday, officers received a call from a resident in the 1100 block of Channing Avenue reporting a suspicious person, according to police.
By the time officers arrived, the suspect had already left.
The victim, a woman in her 20s, told police she had been cleaning out her car in her driveway when the suspect walked up to her, identified himself as a tree-trimmer and offered his services.
She declined and encouraged him to speak with her landlord, but the suspect followed her down the driveway and claimed there was a dangerous tree on her property that needed to be trimmed, according to police.
When she again instructed the man to talk to her landlord, he left, police said.
A few minutes later, however, the man returned to her driveway and again tried to engage the woman in conversation, this time asking her age and telling her that she was dressed provocatively, according to police.
The woman went inside her home to get away from the man, and the suspect left but once again came back a short time later.
This time, he knocked on her door and peered inside her residence through the windows when no one answered, according to police.
He left but still returned again, and when the woman's nanny answered the door, the man made a lewd comment directed at the victim, police said.
The nanny asked the suspect to leave, which he did, and the victim called the police.
The man had left a business car with the victim upon their initial contact, and an officer called the suspect, posing as someone who was interested in a tree-trimming estimate.
The officer asked the man to meet him in the 1000 block of Channing Avenue. At about 5:53 p.m., officers observed the suspect drive up to the area in a white 1993 Ford Ranger pick-up truck, and placed him under arrest.
Anyone with information about this incident or suspect is asked to call the Police Department's 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips may be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.
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