This week, we feature a doctor accused of sexually groping a patient.
We also have someone Orange County law enforcement told to get off the bus.
Gus.
(Actually, his name is Stephen.)
Stephen Ponte Garcia was arrested Tuesday for being an alleged serial flasher on Orange County buses. In September, sheriff's deputies assigned to the Orange County Transportation Authority Right of Way team got a tip that a man was exposing himself to females on municipal buses. That sent investigators to their computers to check surveillance video, which revealed this …
Investigators discovered from the footage that the same man flashed passengers on four different North County bus trips. His usual M.O. was to sit in the rear of the bus and expose himself to female riders, one of whom deputies managed to identify. (She wishes to remain anonymous, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.) After a three-week investigation, deputies arrested Stephen Ponte Garcia, 37, on a warrant. He was on parole at the time, so he is ineligible for bail. Garcia is also registered as a high risk sex offender, according to deputies, who fear there may be other victims besides those who turn up in the videos. Anyone who believes they were a victim or has other information about the bus incidents (or any incident involving the accused) is asked to contact the OCSD/OCTA Right of Way team at 714.265.4340 or 714.647.7000. Anonymous tips may be submitted to Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855.847.6227 (855-TIP-OCCS), via occrimestoppers.org or by texting to 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S) from a cell phone. (All text messages should begin with the letters “OCCS”.)
Dr. Arfa Babaknia, who practices family medicine in Fountain Valley, is facing possible Medical Board of California discipline for allegedly groping a female patient. She sought treatment for a urinary tract infection, but when alone with Babaknia during her 2015 exam, he touched her genitals without a medical reason to do so, according to legal documents in the “sexual abuse and/or misconduct” investigation made public last week. The doctor also repeatedly asked about her first sexual experience, it is alleged.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.