Homeless man arrested for a spree of sexual battery incidents in broad daylight in California beach city, police say

A homeless man is accused of committing sexual battery against women in at least three incidents in a southern California beach city, according to police.

The Long Beach Police Department said in a press release that officers arrested Charles Larry Matthews, a 56-year-old homeless man over three incidents of sexual battery.

Officers arrested Matthews on Friday after they say he had committed sexual battery against a female adult victim at about 2 p.m near the intersection of Alamitos Avenue and Broadway Street. They then discovered that he had allegedly committed sexual battery against a female teenage victim 15 minutes prior to that incident near the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Broadway.

“Through their quick response time, officers were able to immediately locate and apprehend the suspect after the sexual battery incidents,” read a release from Long Beach police.

Investigators believe Matthews also committed sexual battery against another female adult victim at about 12:25 p.m. near the intersection of Molino Avenue and Anaheim two days prior to the two incidents.

Matthews was booked and charged for two counts of sexual battery.

Police say there may be other victims of sexual battery and are asking the public to contact detectives if they have any information that might help the investigation.

Critics of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón were outraged at a similar incident in November after he declined to file felony charges against a homeless man who assaulted a woman on the sidewalk.

KABC-TV spoke to the victim, Rebekkah Pederson, who said she was angry that the man was not charged appropriately.

"Did this man not see any of the footage," she asked. "I'm more angry than anything."

The median single-family home price in Long Beach is about $780k according to Rocket Homes.

Here's a news report about the incident:

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!