Detectives are going to investigate claims made by several Santa Clarita Valley women who say they’ve been harassed by a man allegedly texting them photographs of his penis, according to the lieutenant in charge of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff Station’s Detective Bureau.
On Tuesday, Lt. Ignacio Somoano urged anyone who feels they’ve been harassed by someone texting them unwanted sexual images, to come forward and report the crime.
Respond they did.
“We got more calls than normal,” Somoano said, referring to women responding to a post on the SCV Sheriff’s Station’s Facebook page for women to come forward.
At least one formal report was filed and many complaints about the alleged offender made to the detective section.
As a result, Somoano said: “Eventually, a detective will be assigned.”
Although a detective is still to be assigned to investigate the report filed, deputies responded immediately to the complaints, he said.
“We dispatched a couple of deputies and we made a couple of calls,” Somoano said.
Women victimized by what they’ve described for The Signal as constant harassment by a man texting sexually explicit images to them say they want justice.
The women seeking action and justice, however, should remember that investigations undertaken by detectives take time to complete, one lieutenant at the SCV Sheriff’s Station said Wednesday.
News of the sheriff’s intentions was welcomed by the women seeking action.
“That’s great, that’s awesome,” said one of them women who contacted The Signal about the problem. “We were kind of worried that they we wouldn’t actually get something done… I didn’t want it to be a bunch of angry girls talking crap.”
The women whom The Signal spoke with — all who had never met the man in question — want something done to stop him texting sexually explicit photos and videos. Additionally, several of those who complained about the behavior on social media said the man also knew some of his victims.
Section 653m of California’s Penal Code reads: Every person who, with intent to annoy, telephones or makes contact by means of an electronic communication device with another and addresses to or about the other person any obscene language or addresses to the other person any threat to inflict injury to the person or property of the person addressed or any member of his or her family, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
“Sending repeated communications with intent to annoy or harass, including messages or images, to an individual via any electronic device, is a crime,” Somoano wrote in an email to The Signal Tuesday. “If anyone in the Santa Clarita Valley has been a victim of this type of harassment, we encourage them to make a report with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.”
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