| For Immediate Release Case # 08WM09118
|
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN CHARGED WITH SEXUALLY ASSAULTING
WOMAN IN TARGET WHILE FEMALE FRIEND
STOLE LINGERIE AND MP3 PLAYERS
WESTMINSTER – Charges have been filed against a man for sexually assaulting a woman in a TARGET store while his female friend, also charged, was stealing lingerie and MP3 players in another part of the store. Jeremy Dean Stone, 21, Buena Park, and Tanya Rose Ekberg Oelke, 19, Fountain Valley, are each charged with one misdemeanor count of second degree commercial burglary and one misdemeanor count of petty theft. Stone is also charged with one misdemeanor count of sexual battery by restraint. If convicted, Stone faces a maximum sentence of two and a half years in jail and Oelke faces a maximum sentence of one and a half years in jail. The People will be requesting $20,000 bail for Stone and expect Oelke to be released on her own recognizance today, Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008, at their arraignment at 1:30 p.m. in Department W-4, West Justice Center, Westminster.
At approximately 7:30 p.m. on Sep. 15, 2008, Stone and Oelke went to the TARGET store on Katella Avenue in Cypress. Oelke is accused of taking a razor blade from her front shirt pocket and cutting open the packaging to two MP3 players to steal the contents while Stone acted as a look-out. The two defendants are accused of then going in different directions and Oelke went to the women’s department. She is accused of removing the tags from several clothing items including a pair of shorts and two bras, which she hid in her purse. Stone is accused of going to the front of the store near the check-out line. He is accused of seeing 40-year-old Jane Doe, whom he did not know, while she was shopping with her teenage daughter. He is accused of walking up behind the victim, wrapping his arms around her waist and chest, and over her clothes placing one hand on her breasts and the other on her pelvic region. He is accused of simulating a sexual motion and making sexually explicit comments.
Jane Doe called out for help and Stone is accused of attempting to flee the scene. Another shopper, who witnessed the sexual assault, tripped Stone as he attempted to run away. Several other shoppers and TARGET security detained the defendant until Cypress Police arrived. Loss Prevention employees at TARGET, who had been monitoring the theft on store cameras, provided officers of a description of Oelke, who was also arrested at the scene.
Deputy District Attorney Kristin Goodman is prosecuting this case.
###