OCC Boosts Security as 4th Woman Is Attacked

Orange Coast College campus police on Thursday boosted security in response to the report of an attempted sexual assault that took place Tuesday in a campus parking lot, the fourth such attack reported at the college this year.

Police said the assaults appear to have been committed by four different men, but all began in campus parking lots, two during the day.

College administrators, who were criticized by students for slow reporting of the earlier attacks, acted quickly, extending security patrols and stepping up efforts to persuade students to walk with someone else to their cars. The first two assaults occurred Jan. 28 and March 11 but were not reported to students until March 21.

This time, it took only two days for students to learn of the attack, which administrators publicized with large posters, flyers placed on cars in the campus parking lots and announcements in classes.

In Tuesday’s attack, a female student was grabbed from behind and knocked down in the college’s administration parking lot about 10:30 p.m., according to Costa Mesa Sgt. Ron Smith. The assailant, described as a 6-foot, 170-pound white male in his early 20s with blond hair and blue eyes, punched her in the face several times and she screamed. The man fled when he heard voices nearby.

“I felt kind of sick when I heard about” Tuesday’s attack, said Diane Sparkling, 42, a student walking to class from the Adams Avenue parking lot. “I take night classes, and it’s embarrassing to ask someone to walk with me. . . . I know it’s not safe anywhere, but I want to keep believing that it is.”

Many students said they had begun using the buddy system when walking to their cars at night in response to the three earlier assaults.

“It was weird--we didn’t talk about it, but four of us in one of my classes started walking out together,” said Monica Katz, a sophomore from Fountain Valley. “There’s a lot of fear, and anger that it keeps happening. I know the police are doing everything they can, but. . . .”

Beginning Thursday night, the college’s security force extended its patrols by half an hour to 11 p.m. and increased the number of cars that patrol the parking lots, administrators said. In addition, the cars will keep their flashing overhead lights on at night to increase their visibility and deterrence value.

“You’re simply not going to be able to miss seeing a security vehicle in those lots,” said college spokesman Jim Carnett, adding that the measures will remain in place at least through the end of the semester. He said that next fall, the college plans to set up a security station in the Adams Avenue lot, the largest of the campus’s eight parking lots.

After the third incident came to light a month ago, the college added patrols and set up a crisis response team made up of administrators and a student to try to publicize assaults quickly. The team has created a standard crime alert flyer that can be modified, said Sharon Donoff, vice president for student services. In addition, Smith said the Costa Mesa police now meet weekly with campus security to exchange information.

Security also provides a free escort service, which starting Thursday was extended to midnight to accommodate students studying late at the library, said John Farmer, the campus security chief. Requests for escorts have increased from three to four calls per week to three to four per night since the first attack became known on campus March 21, said Erik Hunter, a sophomore from Costa Mesa who works for the service.

In the first reported assault, a blond-haired, blue-eyed male in his 20s approached a woman in the fine arts parking lot around 7 p.m. and persuaded her to come with him to the library, where police say he sexually assaulted her. Smith said the man did not appear to be the same person as the assailant in Tuesday’s attack.

In the second, on Feb. 13, a woman went to the Adams Avenue parking lot between classes. As she was bending over to get her car keys from her backpack, a man described as a Latino or light-skinned black male in his early 20s grabbed her from behind. The victim fought with the man and was able to break free.

The third attack, on March 11, also began in the Adams Avenue parking lot. An unarmed man got into a car with a student about 3 p.m. and forced her to drive to a nearby grocery store parking lot, where he raped her. The rapist was decribed as a black man in his early 20s.

In addition, there have been two reports of men attempting to follow women home from college parking lots. In both cases, the women escaped harm. Smith urged anyone with information about any of the attacks to call (714) 754-5205.