Author: Aidan Lewis
A suspect for rape and robbery in the Eagle Rock area is being held in the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles after his apprehension on Aug. 28 by the LAPD Northeast Division.
L.A. City Council member Jose Huizar sent Oxy’s Campus Safety a public safety bulletin earlier in the month containing details of the crime as well as a composite sketch of the suspect.
According to the bulletin, the crime took place on July 26 at 5:30 a.m. at the corner of Colorado and Eagle Rock Blvds. A 23-year-old woman waiting at a bus stop was forced into a car and driven to a secluded area where she was sexually assaulted and robbed.
The suspect was described as “a Hispanic male, short brown hair, 18-22 years of age with a mustache” driving a dark blue Honda Civic. Huizar posted a $25,000 reward for “information leading to the arrest and conviction” of the man. While the LAPD’s office of Northeast Community Relations was unable to give any details on the suspect’s apprehension, Capt. William Murphy told the L.A. Times that the man arrested was 25-year-old Sergio Hernandez Linares, who was apprehended at his workplace on Thursday, Aug. 28. Oxy’s Director of Campus Safety Hollis Nieto said that the LAPD Northeast Division “aggressively pursued him.”
The L.A. Times also reported that the arrest was the culmination of a month of press conferences requesting the public’s assistance in the search, DNA tests to identify the rapist, and a series of leads on the suspect from various sources. The initial $25,000 reward was allegedly doubled to attract further help from the public.
Nieto emphasized that Eagle Rock is not a neighborhood known for frequent sexual assaults.
“We know that rape is one of the most under-reported crimes today,” she added.
Nieto offered students some practical guidelines for avoiding similar situations: travel in groups, be aware of your surroundings, and exercise caution when you are traveling. The victim of July’s incident was alone at a bus stop in the early morning, and was presumed to have been preoccupied with an electronic device at the time of her abduction.
Nieto also stressed that there is no reason to panic. Eagle Rock is not experiencing an increase in crime; statistically, crimes of violence in the area are down for the fourth year running.
The public safety bulletin detailing the occurrence was only e-mailed to faculty, staff, and administrators. Nieto stated her concern at the time that sharing the information with students might foment unnecessary fears and misrepresent Eagle Rock as a perilous, crime-ridden region to first-years unfamiliar with the neighborhood. It is in fact a relatively safe area compared to other sections of L.A., she assured.
Nieto said that July’s isolated event should merely serve as a warning for us to be careful in future travels in and around Eagle Rock, and that there is no reason to regard this as the beginning of some sort of “rape spree.”
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