Issuing Employee: Chief Travis Walker
Type of Case: Report of Assault
Date/Time Reported: October 21, 2021
Location of Occurrence: Area of “Ojai Rd and Richmond Rd”, Santa Paula
Synopsis of Incident
On October 21, 2021, a local social media post made claims that a sexual assault occurred involving a female and a suspect who was described in the post as a “tall, albino, gray mid-length hair, who drives a black car.” A variety of other information was conveyed in this post that has raised concerns in our community. We would like to provide some information to allay any fears raised by this post.
On Saturday, October 16, 2021, at 9:34 AM, officers from the Santa Paula Police Department were dispatched to the Santa Paula Hospital to meet with a 61-year-old female who alleged she had been struck with a “blunt object” at her residence the day before. Due to the age of the victim and her claim of being struck by a blunt object, detectives responded to handle the investigation. During their investigation, detectives checked the victim’s residence and did not locate any evidence that substantiated the claims made. Detectives also spoke to several neighbors who did not see or hear anything during the timeframe that had been reported. The detectives also had the victim examined by a forensic medical professional that same day. The preliminary examination revealed that the injuries did not appear to be forensically consistent with the timeframe and mechanism of injury reported by the victim.
On Thursday, October 21, 2021, a family member of the victim called the Santa Paula Police Department to report that the victim claimed that the person who attacked her was at her residence. Officers responded to the residence and did not locate anybody matching the description provided. Detectives also responded and interviewed the victim. The victim told detectives that she did not say that the person was at her house, but that the person was following her around the city on Monday. The victim also claimed that the person followed her inside of various businesses she visited on Monday. The detectives responded to those businesses and reviewed the surveillance footage from Monday. Detectives clearly saw the victim on the surveillance cameras, however nobody remotely matching the description reported in the social media post and to the victim’s family was seen following the victim at any time.
At this time, we do not have any credible public safety information regarding this claim to share with the community and we have not experienced any other similar calls within the city.
The Santa Paula Police Department encourages you to report suspicious activity and crimes immediately by calling or texting 911 or calling our non-emergency line at (805) 525-4474.
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