Attack victim helps capture her own alleged attacker

A break in the investigation into an alleged sexual assault last week outside a Ralphs supermarket in Glendale came not from the public, but the victim, police said Thursday.

The woman called police June 3 to report that a man had grabbed and forced her to touch his crotch in the supermarket’s parking lot. Not long after that, she came across the alleged perpetrator’s parked Mercedes-Benz.

She reportedly spotted the red car later in the week while jogging in the neighborhood along San Rafael Avenue and called it in to police, prompting detectives to scope the car out on Saturday, Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

Police traced the license plate number to its registered owner, 28-year-old Eduard Yengibaryan, who was identified in a photo as the alleged attacker by the victim, Lorenz said.

The assault occurred about 6 a.m. after Yengibaryan allegedly approached the woman in the parking lot in 1200 block of North Central Avenue as she was getting into her car, according to Glendale police.

Yengibaryan — who had engaged the woman in small talk since March — then allegedly grabbed her wrist and said, “Don’t be scared. I haven’t seen you in weeks,” as she sat in her car.

Police say he then tugged her left hand, forced her to touch his genitals over his pants and walked away.

On Wednesday morning, police visited Yengibaryan’s home, where they spoke to his wife after finding that he was not at home, Lorenz said.

Later that afternoon, he arrived at the Police Department’s headquarters to talk to detectives and was arrested.

Detectives recovered surveillance footage from a nearby business showing Yengibaryan at the scene of the alleged attack, Lorenz said.

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