Man arrested in sexual attacks at O.C. mall, church
An 18-year-old man who police have linked to the sexual assault of a teenager at a Santa Ana shopping mall and an attempted sex attack on a woman leaving an Anaheim church was arrested Friday.
Santa Ana police said they had been looking for Raymond Boykin of Anaheim. Boykin allegedly robbed and sexually assaulted a woman Wednesday morning when she tried to get into her car in the parking lot of Westfield MainPlace mall.
The woman escaped and ran until a woman who was driving nearby opened her car door and let her in, said Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.
Police said they were able to identify Boykin early on because he took the woman’s purse and used the money to buy a phone at a Verizon store just minutes later, Bertagna said.
A complaint was filed in Orange County Superior Court charging Boykin with forced oral copulation and robbery. A $1-million warrant was issued in the case.
Santa Ana officers said they were looking for him at addresses in Anaheim when they heard Friday that police in that city were responding to the scene of a similar attack.
A woman who called police about 6:30 a.m. Friday said she was walking to her car in a church parking lot when a man attacked her, pushed her into the car, tried to rob her and sexually assault her, said Anaheim police Sgt. Bob Dunn.
The woman escaped, ran across the road to a gas station and called police, Dunn said. When she returned with police, her car was gone.
Hours later, an Anaheim police officer spotted the woman’s car with four people inside.
After a short pursuit, officers detained the people in the car, including Boykin, who initially fled but was detained in a nearby home where he was hiding in a bathroom.
Police in Anaheim say he matches the description of the suspect in the church lot assault, but they are still working to confirm whether he is the alleged attacker.
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Twitter: @PalomaEsquivel
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