NEWPORT BEACH : Intruder Hits Two Homes in Back Bay

Police are searching for a man they believe entered two houses early Tuesday in the Back Bay area, molesting a 7-year-old girl and, half an hour later, startling a sleeping, 39-year-old woman.

“It’s scary,” said Helen M. Johnson, who lives in the condominium development where the second intrusion occurred. “We live in a very quiet neighborhood, and we haven’t had anything like that in ages.”

The same man may have been responsible for five similar, early morning home intrusions in the Harbor View area of the city during the past three years, Sgt. Andy Gonis said. The last intrusion was reported in April, 1992.

Tuesday’s attack was the first sexual assault.

“We want to strike a balance between making the public aware of the situation, but not causing mass hysteria,” Gonis said.

“The two incidents that occurred today are related. There are enough similarities with the other incidents that we felt we should let the public know, so that they can take appropriate safety precautions. The one thing that does concern us is that in virtually every incident, the intruder entered through an unlocked door or window. We strongly urge people, regardless of this, to always lock the house.”

Johnson, who said that she always keeps her house locked, slept through Tuesday’s early morning excitement.

“I’m not living in terror,” she said. “We don’t get much traffic. We rarely see strangers poking around.”

The girl was molested about 2 a.m. while she slept in her home near Anniversary Lane, Gonis said. Police believe the man entered through an unlocked front door. The girl’s parents did not call the police for an hour because they thought she was describing a bad dream, he said.

About half an hour later, police said, the man entered the second house, in the 2400 block of University Drive, through an unlocked, open kitchen window. He entered the bedroom of a house guest, waking the sleeping woman, whose screams caused the man to flee.

In the earlier incidents, Gonis said, a man entered unlocked homes, entered bedrooms and fled when residents awoke and screamed. Nearly 20 police officers from Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, including three canine teams, searched the area.

The man is described as being in his late-30s, 5 feet, 7 inches, to 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing 170 pounds, with straight brown hair. He may have a reddish beard or goatee, and was thought to be wearing a light-colored skullcap or watch cap, and a white, long-sleeved sweat shirt.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Newport Beach Police detective division at (714) 644-3740, during business hours, or (714) 644-3717, at any other time.