NEWPORT BEACH

Police were looking for a man responsible for a three-hour crime spree Monday night that included groping one woman and trying to break into the homes of five others. The first incident occurred at a bar on Main Street about 8:30 p.m. The man approached a woman near a restroom, made sexual comments to her, then grabbed her. He fled when the woman broke free, Sgt. Mike McDermott said.

Police believe that within the next half an hour, the man approached a woman standing outside her home on West Balboa Boulevard and asked to come inside. The woman shut the door and called police to report that the man was staring at her through her front window. He fled before police arrived. A short time later, the man is believed to have knocked on the door of a home at a Drake Street trailer park. When a woman answered, the man hugged her; she screamed, and he fled when the woman’s husband ran to the door. There were three more incidents in the same neighborhood later that night, police said.

The man is described as about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, 25 to 31 years old, with an average build and red hair.