Long Beach man arrested on suspicion of assaulting two teenage girls at knifepoint
A 29-year-old Long Beach man has been arrested in connection with a pair of sexual assaults in which teenage girls told police they were held at knifepoint in South L.A., authorities said.
Samuel Alexander Vasquez was arrested by detectives with the LAPD’s elite Robbery-Homicide Division as he left his job in Long Beach on Friday, police said. He was booked on suspicion of kidnapping with intent to commit sexual assault, according to an LAPD news release.
In both attacks, Vasquez is accused of using a knife to hold the victims against their will in his car, police said. On Sept. 27, police say Vasquez approached a 16-year-old girl who was walking home in the area of 75th and Figueroa streets and he forced her into his car at knifepoint. He then drove to a second location and assaulted her, police said.
One month later, on Oct. 28 near 70th and Flower streets, police accused Vasquez of forcing a 14-year-old into his car, then driving away and assaulting her while holding a knife against her.
Vasquez will be held in lieu of $1 million bail.
Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.
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