When Rachelle Daniels left her East Long Beach hair salon Saturday afternoon to run errands, she thought she was at the end of a normal business day until an urgent call from her employees summoned her back because a man was allegedly masturbating out front of her shop, and they were trapped inside.
Daniels said her employees told her the man had come into the salon on Bellflower Boulevard just south of the 405 Freeway at around 1:45 p.m. asking for a haircut, but he was told that an appointment was required. Daniels said the man lingered inside the salon for a few moments, looking around, before heading outside.
“He walked out without saying anything and sat down in the chair and took his stuff out,” Daniels said in an interview.
Daniels said her employees rushed to close the blinds as the man proceeded to touch himself outside her salon’s windows, but he moved his chair in front of the shop’s door, which had no blinds. According to Daniels, they were forced to lock themselves and the two remaining clients inside the salon as they waited for the police to arrive.
Daniels shared the same details in an Instagram post Saturday and has since posted a picture of the man sitting in the chair outside her salon in her front window. Daniels is asking the community for help in identifying the man, who has yet to be arrested.
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Long Beach police confirmed they responded to the call at the salon at about 2:52 p.m. for an indecent exposure report, but the man had fled the scene before officers arrived. Daniels expressed frustration that officers weren’t there sooner.
While indecent exposure is a misdemeanor under the California penal code, it could be escalated to a felony if a prosecutor can prove that there was purposeful touching and sexual arousal involved, LBPD spokesperson Richard Mejia said.
“If you’re naked in public, like there are folks experiencing homelessness who are relieving themselves and are naked in public, that would be a different part of the penal code,” Mejia said.
If the man is arrested and prosecuted under the harsher penalties he could be forced to register as a sex offender, Mejia said.
Daniels said she’s now going over the shop’s existing security measures with her staff, like reminding them of the panic button that’s installed in the shop. She’s also installing new cameras and changing the shop’s closing procedures so that more employees will be on hand at the end of the day.
“Nobody should have to go through what my girls went through with that,” Daniels said.