What started as a weapons arrest two months ago has become a serial sexual assault case, with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office linking six attacks in Stockton and other cities to a 25-year-old Rio Vista man, authorities said.
In an interview with San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow, CBS 13 in Sacramento reported that Bernarnino Vazquez has been connected to six assaults in San Joaquin and Sacramento counties.
The first occurred in January in the town of Thornton, in San Joaquin County. Sheriff’s officials say Vazquez attacked a woman as she cleaned a business in the evening. Her screams went unheeded, Winslow said; instead of coming to help, she told authorities that porch lights snapped off.
“She fought like crazy, and it’s because of her that we have the DNA evidence that we have,” Withrow told the news station.
From there, investigators were able to connect Vazquez to two earlier cases in Sacramento County — at Sprouts grocery stores in Sacramento and Elk Grove, CBS 13 said. Two assaults in Isleton were also later linked to Vazquez.
The latest attack that San Joaquin County investigators discovered was at a Starbucks store in Stockton on June 24. Authorities used “good old-fashioned cop work” to track Vazquez from the store, obtaining video showing him riding away on a bicycle and getting into a car, Withrow said.
While searching for Vasquez, detectives learned he had been arrested July 3 by Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies on suspicion of discharging a shotgun, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post. He was picked out of a lineup there in connection with the sexual assault of a massage therapist.
He then started confessing to other sexual assaults, Withrow said, admitting to multiple attacks across Thornton, Isleton, Elk Grove, Stockton and Sacramento.
Vazquez is currently being held in the Sacramento County Main Jail on suspicion of firearms and assault charges, the sheriff’s office said, but additional charges are expected from the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office as the investigation continues, officials said.
“This office will pursue justice with the full weight of the law for each victim impacted by this individual’s heinous actions,” District Attorney Ron Freitas said in a statement. “This arrest is a crucial step toward accountability and public safety.”
Authorities urge anyone with additional information about the case to call the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office at (209) 468-4400 or the District Attorney’s Office at (209) 468-2400.