Security Guard Held in Police-Impostor Incidents

A security guard suspected of posing as a police officer in order to rob or assault at least seven lone female drivers along or near the Pomona Freeway was arrested Monday, 12 hours after the most recent incident, authorities said.

David MacGregor, 18, who worked as a security guard in the City of Industry, was arrested for investigation of robbery, attempted rape, assault with a deadly weapon and assault with a caustic chemical, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Terry Judge said.

Detectives began an investigation of MacGregor on Sunday and arrested him shortly before 6 p.m. after a brief surveillance, Judge said. He declined to provide any details of evidence developed against the suspect, who was being held at the sheriff’s Walnut substation in lieu of $100,000 bail.

A woman motorist driving alone near the Pomona Freeway escaped unhurt after she was pulled over early Monday by a man investigators believe was MacGregor posing as a police officer, bringing to seven the number of similar incidents reported recently in the eastern San Gabriel Valley and Pico Rivera, authorities said.

Six of the incidents occurred in the last two days, with the earliest known episode in the string of attacks taking place July 1, sheriff’s deputies said.

The most recent incident occurred in Pico Rivera about 4:45 a.m. Monday, capping a weekend in which an impostor either robbed, battered or attempted to sexually assault five other women motorists.

In the latest incident, as in the others, the assailant wore a security guard-type uniform and used a white spotlight to stop a 33-year-old woman driving on the San Gabriel River Parkway near Rose Hills Memorial Park. He fled, however, when she questioned him about his car, which has been described as a dark, possibly rust-colored, Pinto or Nissan.

On Monday, deputies reported an assault on July 1 that they believe is connected to the string of other attacks. In that case, a 22-year-old Hacienda Heights woman was pulled over in Pico Rivera and was punched in the face by a man wearing what appeared to be a police uniform.

Police said the assailant in all the incidents was dressed in a dark uniform, with a dark cap and a jacket with a badge-like emblem.

The weekend incidents occurred near the Pomona Freeway in Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights and West Covina. The assailant attempted to rape two of the women and pushed one of them down a 30-foot embankment. But he fled when the women fought back. Another woman was robbed at knifepoint of $100.

The impostor aimed tear gas spray at another of the women. In addition, another victim was struck four times in the face with a flashlight.