An alleged serial sexual assailant is in custody in Contra Costa County after attacking two women as they were out for their morning walks, and police said the same suspect had just served time for a similar attack.
“I heard her screaming ‘help,’ it was a cold, blooded scream,” said David Hayes. “It was clearly a scream of duress.”
Hayes described the screams that caught his attention as he was driving home from the gym in Concord last Thursday morning.
Police said a man tried kidnapping a 59-year-old woman who was out for a walk.
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“All of a sudden she was approached by a total stranger who put his hand around her mouth, grabbed her, and tried to pull her towards a vehicle that he had showed up in,” said Chris Blakely, a detective for the Concord Police Department.
Hayes called 911 and drove after the man who got into his Volvo and sped away. He was able to get a good look at the suspect and his car, adding that the man tried ramming him before Hayes gave up on the chase.
“The good thing about it is that when I made complete eye contact with him and saw his face and knew I could recognize him,” said the good Samaritan.
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The next morning, police said he struck again, targeting another woman walking on the same street.
“It was again a female that was walking by herself in a nice, residential, safe neighborhood, and the suspect comes up behind her, pulls her pants down,” said Blakely.
Another good Samaritan stopped to help, getting a dash cam video of the suspect’s car that led to the quick arrest of 22-year-old Rafael Mendoza-Reyes, a registered sex offender who investigators say assaulted an Alamo woman as she was gardening in her yard in June.
He served just four months for that attack.
“Can’t ever happen again, should not have happened, and whoever released him should be held accountable,” said Hayes.
Prosecutors say their hands are tied by current laws. Mendoza-Reyes was convicted of felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor sexual battery in June. He’s looking at about four years if convicted in the latest attacks
“I think if people are outraged, they should write their state legislator and change the law for sexual battery,” said Deputy District Attorney Paul Graves. “It’s a complicated statute, and we couldn’t even charge a sexual offense on the second victim in Concord based on the law as it exists today.”
“He’s a very dangerous predator, and we’re happy to get them off the streets -- and also very proud of the citizens and witnesses and victims who came forward and actively stopped this guy from hurting people,” said Blakely.
