GRAND TERRACE – Six days after San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies received reports of a man stalking women, a suspect was identified and arrested on Thursday.
Rosalio Padilla, 48, was arrested on charges of stalking several female victims over a period of time. When the initial report was made to deputies on September 12, they received a report from a female hiker who had taken a path on the Blue Mountain hiking trails, located on a public park. Deputies did not disclose the identity of the female victim, who reported that a “Hispanic male had used his saliva and other bodily fluids to draw a heart on her vehicle window.”
Deputies said it was the third time the suspect had done this. According to reports, the victim “did not know the male and had never seen him prior to these incidents.” Investigation determined that Padilla, of San Bernardino, was their suspect.
Additional investigation revealed that other female hikers had reported similar incidents in the same area. All of those hikers provided descriptions that matched Padilla. He had been spotted at least once a week in the Blue Mountain hiking trails area. On Wednesday, deputies on patrol stopped a blue van that matched that of Padilla’s vehicle. He was detained, questioned and eventually booked at the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino.
Part of the investigation included taking DNA samples in order to match them to Padilla. The park is accessed from the 23000 block of Westwood Street, a road less than a two miles long between Reche Canyon Road and Honey Hills Drive. In between are several hiking trails in non-residential mountain areas. Early reports indicated the suspect had been driving a white van.
Law enforcement officials are seeking additional victims. Deputies said that last year, another arrest had been made in a similar event when a woman complained of harassment after a man left flowers and a note on her car.
