A 28-year-old woman was sexually assaulted around 10:30 p.m. last night near Central Park West and W 67th Street. Police say that the perp is a Hispanic male with spiky hair...and they believe it is the same Upper East Side serial groper who has been harassing women in Manhattan for the past eight months. Which leads us to ask: is the Upper East Side groper...evolving?
So far, all the 10 known assaults—as well as the numerous near-assaults—by the 4'11" pint-sized suspect have occurred on the Upper East Side. So it seems the prediction by one woman who was attacked last weekend by the groper is coming true: “Someone needs to stop him because he’s just going to keep on doing it until he tries something new,” she said.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly previously said that detectives believe the suspect may be a kitchen worker because the incidents have occurred at “off hours.” One of the groper's victims told us that she believes she has seen him hanging out at the projects between 92nd and 93rd Streets on 1st Avenue.
Police advise that if you are a victim of the suspect, you should first call 911; then you should contact their local precinct and fill out a report. If someone sees a person who looks like the groper, they should contact Crimestoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). Victims can also directly call the Manhattan Special Victims Squad (who deal exclusively with sexual crimes) at 212-860-6857.
