Man with history of lewd conduct arrested again in Costa Mesa

A man who has bounced in and out of jail on charges that he repeatedly harassed and groped women in Costa Mesa was arrested again over the weekend on suspicion of lewd conduct, according to police.

Mark Marroquin, 25, was released from Orange County Jail on June 1 after serving time for inappropriately touching one of his victims, according to court and jail records. Five days later, Costa Mesa police arrested him again, Lt. Greg Scott said.

Scott said Marroquin approached a woman in the 200 block of East 17th Street on Saturday afternoon and solicited a sexual act from her.

“Marroquin fled on foot after being rebuffed by the victim,” Scott said.

Police arrested Marroquin nearby, and he was booked into county jail with bail set at $1,000. He was released the next day, according to jail records, and is due in court next month.

Marroquin has a history with Costa Mesa police.

He was arrested in May 2014 on suspicion of harassing and groping a 14-year-old girl and her friend near Wallace Avenue and Shalimar Drive. In July, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of lewd conduct stemming from that case, police said. He was sentenced to 136 days in jail and three years’ probation, according to court records.

Also in July, police assigned plainclothes officers to tail him when investigators suspected he was the homeless man who had been starting inappropriate conversations and trying to touch women’s backs in an Eastside park. He was arrested on allegations of violating probation that required him to stay away from Wallace Avenue and Shalimar Drive.

But Marroquin’s string of misdemeanor offenses continued after that, according to court records.

In December, a judge sentenced him to six months in jail after a jury convicted him of inappropriately touching another victim.

And on June 1, he pleaded guilty to the same charge in a different case. Scott said officers arrested Marroquin in that case because he approached an 18-year-old woman at a 7-Eleven on Irvine Avenue and touched her thigh, buttocks and right arm while assuring her “he was not going to hurt her.”

Records indicate that a judge sentenced Marroquin to 180 days in jail, but he was released the same day with credit for time already served since his arrest in January.