Costa Mesa Police Look for Rapist Bitten by Victim

Costa Mesa police Monday sought the public’s help in their search for a man in his mid-20s who raped a 19-year-old woman in a parking lot at 3300 Hyland Ave. after offering to give her a ride home.

Police said the incident occurred Nov. 9. The assailant probably has sought medical help because the young woman bit him severely before she fled, officers said.

Sgt. John FitzPatrick said the young woman had left a tavern in Huntington Beach at 2:15 a.m. on Nov. 9 when she was approached by a man who offered her a ride home in his car.

After she got into the car, he drove her to the Hyland Avenue address, parked his car in “a dark, secluded portion” of the parking lot and raped her, FitzPatrick said. The woman escaped after she bit him. She ran to a nearby guard shack and obtained police assistance, FitzPatrick said.

The suspect was described as having “a large bulbous nose, like W. C. Fields.” He is described as about 25 years old, 5 feet, 8 inches tall, about 180 pounds and muscular in build. He has black, collar-length hair and a full, dark mustache. Police said the suspect also had a tattoo on his right bicep that starts with the letter M. The young woman said the man told her he was a gardener, according to police.