Person of interest in custody in Garden Grove and Anaheim assaults

Authorities had a person of interest in custody Saturday in connection with assaults on five women in five hours in Orange County.

Anaheim and Garden Grove police arrested the suspect at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at 6100 Robin Way in Buena Park after tips led them to the residence, said Garden Grove Lt. Ben Stauffer.

The assailant in the attacks -- which all occurred Thursday -- had been described as a male in his early 20s, with tattoos on both arms and possibly a pierced lower lip. He was wearing a gray short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, the Garden Grove Police Department said in a statement.

“We had been developing information on a person matching the desciption,” Stauffer said.

The first reported attack occurred in Garden Grove about 5:28 p.m. Thursday in the 11300 block of Euclid Street, where a woman said she was struck several times and dragged by an intruder who then fled.

Another woman reported that she came home at 7:17 p.m. and found a burglar in her home in the 11300 block of Clarissa Street, about three miles from the first attack. The woman told police the man was armed with a knife and stabbed her three times before fleeing. She was treated for her injuries.

Police sent out automatic phone messages to residents after the second attack, advising them of the ongoing search.

Then at 7:50 p.m., two women were returning to a hotel room at West Street and Katella Avenue in Anaheim when a man with a knife tried to push his way into the room as they closed the door, Stauffer said. He was able to force his arm into the opening. The women were cut during the confrontation but were able to prevent him from coming into the room, Stauffer said.

A woman in the 11300 block of Lampson Avenue in Garden Grove told police that at 10:03 p.m. Thursday a man entered her home and hit her several times before she was able to escape. Her home is about four miles from the site of the previous assault.

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