Long Beach police today said they’ve made an arrest in a high-profile case where a man was caught on camera following a woman pushing a stroller and then hitting her with a metal pole.
The attack was one of two assaults the man is accused of carrying out just hours apart in the city’s Wrigley neighborhood on Jan 4.
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Police said the first attack was around 9:45 a.m. near 21st Street and Locust Avenue where a woman was pushing a child in a stroller. The child wasn’t harmed, but the woman had to be hospitalized after the attack, they said.
Less than three hours later, the man attacked another woman about a block away, police said. She was walking past him when he “struck her with a metal object without warning,” police said. She declined medical treatment, according to the LBPD.
After putting out a public bulletin and asking for help finding the suspect, police said they identified him as a 27-year-old homeless man named Job Jesse Villegas. He was arrested in Los Angeles on May 13.
Police said he was booked into jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, battery, trespassing and prior warrants. His bail was set at $710,000, according to the department.
Police asked anyone with more information about the case to contact the violent crimes detail at 562-570-7250.