Citizens in Los Angeles County claim they caught a “creeper” who parked several times outside an elementary school and filmed the children. The angry parents decided to take matters into their own hands and gave him a nasty surprise—right inside his own home.
Parents in Southern California claim a man in a parked SUV has been filming their children as they leave school. Despite their growing fears, however, the school system and local police stated they couldn’t force him to leave. That’s when they decided to confront the man they nicknamed the “creeper.”
This “creeper” has been sighted several times outside of New River Elementary School in Norwalk, California. Cynthia Valdez told KTLA that she saw him recording children, while others believe they saw him in the car “with a blanket, a phone, and a laptop.”
The parents took the problem to the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District in an attempt to get this man away from their children. The school tried to cover part of the campus field with a tarp, and the city set up video cameras where the man parks. According to the parents, none of this deterred him.
“We’ve asked him, ‘Why are you here? Why are you filming the children?’ And he doesn’t give a specific answer. He says it’s his right,” said a parent. Every day, the man sits in his car with a blanket, a laptop, and his phone. One 13-year-old female student claims that the man has done much more than just photographing children.
“I’ve witnessed him masturbating to kids,” the 13-year-old female student said. She also claims the man photographed her several times. According to the parents, the man tries to attract the interest of children by providing various things. One parent even took a picture of a student who was supposedly given a cigar by the man in the vehicle.
A group of parents confronted the man in his car at one point. According to the report, he called the police because he was concerned about his safety. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies escorted him away but did not charge him since he could not be linked to a crime.
A few concerned parents conducted some detective work and identified where the man resided. Many furious parents gathered in protest outside his home to confront him. Cynthia Valdez was among the upset parents who spoke up in front of the man’s house. “I got a 90-day stay-away order, but the county wouldn’t approve a permanent restraining order because he’s never laid hands on me, he’s never threatened me, and he never stepped foot on my property,” she explained.
Other parents said they’ve witnessed illicit behavior as well. “It’s an adult male sitting in his car day in and day out in the passenger side with a blanket, a phone, and a laptop,” Sandra Rodriguez said. “So, it’s very concerning.” Joseph Trevizu, a former school board member, was also interviewed outside the home. “We have kids that we have a duty to protect, and when we don’t fulfill that duty, we fail, not just as a district but as a community,” he said. “The district is also limited because this individual is on a public street and not interfering with school operations.”
“They said he hasn’t broken any laws, but what we want to do is we want to encourage parents and students who have witnessed this guy masturbating to file police reports,” Trevizu explained. “We believe he has violated the child annoyance statute, and we want them to file police reports because that’s the only way to make things happen.”
The predominantly Hispanic population of Norwalk is not afraid to confront predators. In 1985, outraged Latino residents of East Los Angeles, a community near Norwalk, apprehended famed serial killer Richard Ramirez, who was discovered wandering along one of the neighborhood’s streets. Neighbors ran out of their homes and mobbed the killer, kicking him until police arrived and arrested him.
