This week brings news of a long prison stretch in California for an assaulter of women in Westminster already serving a long prison stretch in Florida for doing the same thing.
There are also details about a flasher who exposed himself near an apartment pool in Irvine.
Arnold Eduardo Martinez was sentenced last Monday to two consecutive life terms plus more than 10 years in prison for attempting to kidnap and sexually assault three women in or near a Westminster park. However, the 37-year-old will not begin serving his sentence until he finishes a 20-year term at the Blackwater Correctional Facility in Florida, where he was convicted of pulling multiple women into vans to attack them. An Orange County, California, jury convicted Martinez on May 4 of trying to drag a 21-year-old woman into his vehicle at Sigler Park in Westminster, pulling a 58-year-old woman into bushes near the same park and punching her multiple times before she got away and attempting to abduct a 44-year-old woman who was walking to church near the park and, after she managed to get out of his vehicle, dragging her into some nearby bushes, punching her, slamming her head into the ground and trying to sexually assault her before she broke free and ran.
After a composite sketch of the attacker was released following the July 2008 and January 2009 crimes, Martinez moved to Florida, where he ultimately pleaded guilty to similar incidents in Duval County. He had to submit a DNA sample, which ultimately drew a hit for the Westminster crimes.
A man who allegedly exposed himself and engaged in lewd conduct near an apartment complex’s pool has been identified as a suspect sought by the Irvine Police Department, but his name is being withheld as the investigation continues, according to Public Information Officer Farrah Emami. Between 3:30 and 4 p.m. on June 3, a fellow put on his show in the gated pool area of Los Olivos Apartments, where a witness tried to follow him as he ran off and into a vehicle that he drove off in. He was described as being of Italian or Middle Eastern heritage, in his 40s, 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing black aviator-style sunglasses, a gold chain, black swim shorts and, possibly, gold-striped workout attire or black slacks. The car he took off in was an older model sedan, possibly a Honda, with faded blue paint.
After a press release was issued June 7 seeking the public’s help identifying the flasher, “a person familiar with the subject recognized him and contacted police,” Emami explains.
