"I can't stop thinking about it," said Hawthorne resident Ebony Hollingsworth. "I couldn't even sleep last night."
Hollingsworth says a man attacked her and groped her Wednesday night while she was walking home in Hawthorne.
"I still feel violated," said Hollingsworth.
Police say there was a similar attack early last month.
"It has similar characteristics. It's basically in the same area, 3600 block of Rosecrans, same time of night," said Hawthorne Police Lt. Scott Swain. "Hers happened right before 7, this other one happened at about 6:30, and the description is very similar."
Hollingsworth says she had bags of groceries in her arms when the attack happened.
"As I'm approaching the middle of the block, I hear footsteps like somebody running towards me, and by the time I turned around it was already too late. He was like on my back. He was up against me and he grabbed me, and he stuck his hand all the way between my legs and grabbed my private area," said Hollingsworth.
Police say women in the area need to be aware of their surroundings at all times.
Police say a man arrested in December for groping women was recently released from jail. They are investigating whether he could be connected to the current crimes.
"In this case he was riding up on a bike and was groping females and then leaving the area," said Swain. "He got caught in the act in one of them. So we placed him under arrest. We charged him with sexual battery. He's out of jail now, but we have certainly been looking at him as a potential suspect."
Police believe there could be other potential victims. They want possible victims to call the Hawthorne Police Department at (310) 675-4444.
