There is a groper on the loose in Greenwood Heights, cops said.
Police are looking for a man who they say sexually assaulted two women in separate incidents near the Prospect Avenue R station this month.
A 28-year-old woman reported she had left the Prospect Avenue R train station at 11:30 pm on Aug. 5 and turned onto 17th Street toward Fifth Avenue when a creep came up from behind, grabbed her buttocks underneath her skirt, and took off running towards Fifth Avenue.
Two weeks later a 25-year-old woman said she left the same station at the same time and was at the door of her apartment near the corner of Prospect and Fourth avenues when the pervert grabbed her buttocks, then took off running, officers stated.
Police describe the suspect standing between 5-feet-6 and 5-feet-9 and weighing 130 pounds.
The pair of incidents recalls a string of similar attacks in 2011, and another pair last year. Police made arrests in both of those cases. The rash of assaults 2011 included 13 separate attacks, one of which was a rape. They took place over the course of eight months in Park Slope, Greenwood Heights, Windsor Terrace, Sunset Park, and Bay Ridge, putting area residents on edge and sparking outcry against police who many said weren’t doing enough.
The NYPD asks those with information about the latest incidents to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577–8477, go to www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or text-message tips to 274637 and enter “TIP577.”
