A California man has been arrested in connection with two incidents in which women’s feet were fondled as they slept in the Lake Tahoe area.
Anthony Gonzales of Atwater, California, was arrested and booked on charges of burglary and battery, the Douglas County Sherriff’s Office of Minden, Nevada, said in a news release this week.
He’s being held in Merced County Jail on a bail of $50,000. It’s unclear whether Gonzales has an attorney.
Between July 1 and 3, police say Gonzales entered two different condos by slipping in through unlocked screen doors, and then began rubbing the feet of women who were asleep in their beds. In both instances, they say Gonzales fled after the women woke up and confronted him.
Police say they identified Gonzales through forensic techniques but did not elaborate. Once he was identified, police say the found that Gonzales had previously been known to police in the Atwater area, located in California’s Central Valley a four-hour drive away from Lake Tahoe. He was considered a suspect in a number of crimes, including the theft of women’s shoes, trespassing, “and sexual self-gratification during some of these incidents,” police said.
Police said it appeared that the crimes had been escalating in nature. It’s unclear whether Gonzales was ever charged in those previous incidents.
Following the complaints in Lake Tahoe, police warned residents to lock their doors until they made an arrest.
“I am extremely pleased that my Investigators were able to identify, locate, and arrest this individual,” Douglas County Sheriff Dan Coverley said in a statement. “These types of crimes are especially alarming to a community and being able to make an arrest allows the victims and community to feel safe again.”