Police Arrest North Hills Man, 29, in Sexual Assault Cases

Police on Thursday arrested a 29-year-old North Hills resident who they said has been identified as the man who sexually assaulted a 59-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl in the past week.

Manuel Nunez Ortiz was spotted by patrol officers as he walked along Parthenia Street about 1:45 p.m., Detective Kristine Kenney said. The officers had with them a composite drawing of a suspect in the two sexual assaults, and matched that drawing with Ortiz and arrested him on suspicion of sexual assault, Kenney said.

Kenney said one of the victims identified Ortiz as her attacker. Kenney cautioned that the identification “is kind of tenuous” but would not elaborate. Ortiz was being held in lieu of $250,000 bail at the Devonshire station.

Police reported that a 59-year-old woman allegedly was attacked as she got into her car Sunday night at Parthenia Street and Orion Avenue. Her assailant beat her, stole her purse, then sexually assaulted her in the car, police said. Police believe the same man jumped a girl walking home from school Monday on Parthenia Street west of Aqueduct Avenue, dragging her into nearby bushes, beating her and sexually assaulting her.

Kenney said she is checking whether similar attacks have occurred in the LAPD’s other Valley divisions. She said she was unaware of others in the Parthenia area, but “a lot of times these crimes don’t get reported.”

Ortiz seems to live in motels in the North Hills area, Kenney said. She said the investigation is continuing.