Woman finds assailant a week later Woman finds assailant a week later (March 26, 2004)

Cops nab assault suspect after she calls in ID

A 37-year-old woman led police to a man she says attempted to rape her a week earlier.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was out for an early morning walk on March 14 when she passed in front of the United Rentals building located at 2247 W. El Camino Real. After she passed a man sitting on a bench, he allegedly approached her from behind and knocked her to the ground where he assaulted her by groping her. The suspect then began to pull the victim to a darker area near the United Rentals building, but the victim broke free and escaped. She did not report the assault to police.

A week later, on March 21, the victim drove around the area of the assault looking for the suspect. She spotted him at the 2600 block of W. El Camino Real and called police from her cell phone. The Los Altos police responded to the scene and detained the suspect, but determined that the arrest was in Mountain View's jurisdiction. Mountain View police arrived and arrested the suspect, who has been identified as 19-year-old Jose Camacho of Mountain View. Camacho was charged with assault with intent to commit rape and booked into the San Jose Main Jail.

-- Dan Stapleton

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