A 21-year-old homeless man suspected of sexually assaulting two girls in separate attacks in Long Beach was arrested Friday.
Officers responded to the intersection of Carson Street and Atlantic Avenue around 10:15 a.m. Thursday on a report of a girl being sexually assaulted, according to the Long Beach Police Department.
According to police, the girl was on a bus when she was approached by an unknown man. The girl and the man both exited the bus, and after a "brief verbal exchange," the suspect "proceeded to sexually batter the victim,"
police said.
Shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday, the suspect allegedly approached another girl on a bus near Artesia Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue. He followed the girl off the bus and sexually battered her as well, police said.
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Investigators described the suspect as a 5-foot-8-inch man weighing 180 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He also has several small tattoos on his forearms.
He was later identified as George Marquez and booked on suspicion of attempted rape, penetration with a foreign object, and having two warrants for terrorizing a victim and inflicting fear and battery, police said. Marquez was being held on $242,000 bail.
Anyone with information regarding the alleged sexual assaults was urged to call LBPD Sex Crimes Detail Detective William Neal at 562-570-7368. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477
or visit lacrimestoppers.org.
