Photo: NOEL CELIS / AFP / Getty Images
Los Angeles County officers arrested an African-American man from 21 years suspected of sexually assaulting at least against 21 women and girls.
Michael Neal Watson Jr. , 21 years old, is in custody accused of sexually assaulting nine women and four minors under threat of a firearm .
In some cases, authorities said, the suspect also stole their cell phones and used their contact lists to find more victims.
Watson first came to the attention of detectives in February of last year when they received a report of a sexual assault in the city of Walnut.
Officials of the Inglewood Police and the LPD Police Los Angeles County (LAPD) also worked in coordination with the county Sheriff’s Department to track down an alleged crime wave.
According to investigators , the suspect took some of the victims’ cell phones at gunpoint after committing the sexual assaults .
Detectives said Watson forced the victims to give him their usernames and codes in order to access their phone contacts and allegedly find more victims to commit more sexual assaults and robberies.
In some cases, the suspect contacted the victims with promises of fame, and in others allegedly resorted to extortion.
“Each victim had a different angle, one of them was to turn a model into a superstar on the internet,” he said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Joe Ramos.
“Mr. Watson was very intelligent depending on who he talked to. And if he had photos of the victims on his cell phone, some nude photos, he extorted them; any information he was able to obtain from a victim, he used to lure them,” the officer added.
Investigators are convinced that he could have victimized more women, so requested that if other victims were assaulted by Watson, to present their complaints .
Watson is in custody of authorities on $1.7 million bail Dollars.
Defendant is expected to have in January of 2022 his next appearance before a court.
You may be interested
:
Hispanic man and his partner are accused of kidnapping, robbery and assault against their own family in Orange County
Man arrested in Tustin after wave of crimes that included a sexual assault and attack on a pregnant woman zada
The Hispanic man arrested as the alleged sexual offender of teenager in a Los Angeles County supermarket