Sex offender abused mother with stroller and stalked teenager: DA

Police say a convicted sex offender sexually assaulted a woman, snatched her five-year-old son, exposed himself to and chased teenagers.

June 11, 2024, 10:45 p.m. PDT

SANTA ANA, Calif. – An Orange County sex offender faces decades in prison after sexually assaulting a woman as she pushed her baby in a stroller and walked with her 5-year-old daughter near a Santa Ana market, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

The attack occurred on June 4, just an hour after the man exposed himself to two teenagers, followed them, cornered and groped one of them, prosecutors allege.

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Moises Hernandez, 30, of Costa Mesa, faces 20 years in prison if convicted. The charges include one count of sexual penetration by force, one count of indecent act on a child, two counts of exhibitionism, one count of assault and one count of resisting an officer.

“On June 4, 2024, two 15-year-old girls were walking in Santa Ana when a man, later identified as Hernandez, stopped his bicycle and approached them with his penis protruding from his pants, prosecutors said in a written statement. “The girls ran away, but Hernandez chased after them and eventually tried to prevent the girls from running away by standing in the doorway of a nearby apartment building. He groped one of the girls as she ran away from him.”

According to police, an hour later, Hernandez encountered a 36-year-old woman pushing a stroller near Bristol Street and McFadden Avenue. He sexually assaulted her and grabbed her five-year-old daughter by the neck.

Hernandez rode away on his bicycle but was later arrested by Santa Ana police, according to prosecutors.

Hernandez has been convicted twice of public nuisance and sexual assault and is a registered sex offender.

“Sex offenders will never stop exploiting defenseless victims for their own perverse pleasures until they are arrested,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “No mother should have to fear being sexually assaulted in front of her young children while walking down the street in broad daylight, and teenage girls should not have to run from a registered sex offender who exposes his male genitalia while stalking them. Fortunately, Santa Ana Police were able to quickly identify and arrest this offender, getting him off our streets.”