[Reprinted from The Richmond Police Station Newsletter of April 23, 2010. To be added to the station’s mailing list, email sfpd.richmond.station@sfgov.org.]
CAPTAIN RICHARD CORREIA’S MESSAGE
On April 19, 2010 at about 10:00 PM Richmond Station Officers responded to a call of a sexual assault in progress in Golden Gate Park near the Park Chalet Restaurant. Given the seriousness of the call a great many Officers responded, including some from other districts and investigative units. A helicopter from another jurisdiction assisted us with a search of the park.
Since the event, I have been in regular contact with the lead Sex Crimes Police Inspector and her lieutenant. Cases assigned to the Sex Crimes Unit are confidential and the Department goes to great lengths to protect the privacy of victims. As such I am quite limited in the information that I am able to disseminate, even if the information would serve to enhance your sense of personal safety.
I can tell you that we have determined that the victim was not sexually assaulted. The victim has been released from the hospital and investigators are still trying to determine exactly how she sustained her injuries. Moreover, investigators are trying to determine the roles and motives of the individuals involved and what crime occurred, if any.
While I believe that the park is as safe as anywhere else, please be mindful of what you can do to manage the risks to your personal safety. In this connection, please visit SFSAFE.ORG and review the personal safety tips posted there. Richmond Station uniformed Officers will be making frequent passing calls to the western end of the park. And our partners at Park and Rec will be removing undergrowth near trails in the area.
On April 21, 2010 Richmond Station was alerted by email of recent suspicious activity by an adult white male at Mountain Lake Park. This suspect was seen using his cell phone to take photographs of children at the Mountain Lake Park play structures. He did not have any children with him. An alert member of the community used her cell phone to take a photograph the suspect, which she included with her email to Richmond Station. She followed the suspect to his car and reported to us that he drives a Silver Chrysler “PT Cruiser”.
The email and photograph was immediately distributed to Richmond Station Officers. Plain clothes officers, with the assistance of inspectors from the Department’s Sexual Offender Unit, started an immediate search of places that they could expect to locate an individual engaging in such activity. The work of plain clothes officers included stake-outs and showing the suspect’s photograph to possible witnesses. Thus far, we have not been able to identify the suspect from his photograph and a search of our sex offender database was unproductive. We have sent the photograph to our partners at the State Department Justice in the hopes that they might be able to identify him.
All of the police activity described above is ongoing. I am glad to report that we have been able to determine several places that the suspect frequents, including a commercial establishment in the district.
On Wednesday night several officers and I met with forty members of the “Friends of Mountain Lake Park” community group regarding the suspect and to discuss how we can work collaboratively to find him quickly.
The volume of internet traffic related to this issue has been significant and has done a great deal to raise public awareness about this suspect and his activities. I have attached a copy of the suspects photograph to this news letter and request that you call police immediately if you see him. I am confident that all of us working together we will be able to quickly find and indentify this suspect.
NOTEWORTHY ARRESTS
On 04/19/10 at 2:23pm officers responded to the 600 block of 6th Avenue on a report of a suspicious male yelling at parents and children in front of a nearby school. Officers located the suspect sitting on some stairs nearby. The suspect was intoxicated. He is also a Sexual Offender Registrant who was no in compliance with registration requirements.
On 04/20/10 at 5:55pm plainclothes officers were in Golden Gate Park in the area of MLK Drive and Middle Drive due to auto burglaries occurring in the area. Officers recognized a male who they had arrested numerous times in the past for auto burglary. They conducted a surveillance and observed the subject looking into the windows of parked vehicles. They saw him stare at one particular vehicle for some time and then back away due to pedestrians in the area. At some point, the suspect recognized one of the officers and backed away from the car and threw a wrench to the ground. The suspect, who is on parolee, was charged with being in possession of burglar tools and a violation of his parole.
NOTEWORTHY INCIDENTS
Between 04/18/10 between 11:00am and 04/21/10 at 5:15pm on the 300 block of Arguello a suspect entered into an apartment and took cash and a laptop. There were no signs of forced entry.
On 04/19/10 at 6:00am a resident of an apartment building took her dogs out into the backyard of the complex. As she got outside she saw a suspect staring into the ground level bedroom window of her apartment. She yelled at the suspect who then fled through the tradesman’s door. The resident told the officers that she recognized the suspect from a similar incident back in March. The suspect fled on a dark colored bicycle with saddlebags. The suspect was described as a male in his early 40’s with a goatee/beard wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and tan shorts.
On 04/20/10 at 12:25pm a MUNI bus driver stopped at 6th Avenue and Geary and ejected three juveniles from the bus for drinking beer. As the juveniles exited, one of them grabbed the driver’s uniform jacket off of the back of the driver’s seat. The suspects fled north on 6th Avenue toward Clement Street. An officer was flagged down by the MUNI operator just after the incident and found one of the suspects on 7th Avenue near Clement Street. A search of the area was conducted and the driver’s jacket was located in a nearby planter box. The juvenile that was detained was brought back to his school and his parents were contacted.
please remove this picture from your website. i am the mother that took it and am not comfortable with it mass postings
Please keep the picture up! I understand why you would not be comfortable with the picture being up. But unless we start doing what you did (which was gutsy and smart) then people like this will keep trying to get away with it. I seriously doubt he will ever go near that playground again. I thank you as a mother that you alerted me to this person.
I have not seen the man mentioned in this article but I did see a man in the Botanical Garden in GG Park this past Sat. afternoon (1:30 pm) taking pictures of families with small children. It seemed to me that he was focusing on young girls. He was tall (six foot), medium tone skin, wearing dark sunglasses, black suit, white shirt, black tie. He looked very professional but was taking random pictures of families. We all need to keep an eye out for our kids.
@Inner Richmond Resident –
Sorry to hear you observed this at the Botanical Gardens. I hope that if this happens again, you will alert authorities at the Garden or contact the local police (Richmond District police department: 553-0123 or anonymous tip line: 392-2623). The more the authorities know, the better they can protect against it.
Sarah B.