Police have arrested asuspect after video showed a man shoving a real estate agent to the ground and groping herat an open house in Los Angeles.
Alen Karaboghosian, 45, was taken into custody Tuesday night, a Los Angeles police spokesperson told NBC News. He was booked on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon and could face additional charges, the spokesperson said. Authorities said “bodily force” is considered a deadly weapon.
Theattack happened at about 3 p.m. Sundayafter a Keller-Williams Realty agent showed Karaboghosian a house in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Encino. Surveillance video shows the agent andKaraboghosianwalking outside and the woman telling him to leave.
“You saw the house. You’re done. That’s it,” she says in the video obtained by NBC Los Angeles.
Karaboghosian briefly takes his baseball cap off his head, looks up at the camera and smiles. He then shakes the agent’s hand and violently shoves her, causing the woman to fall backward into a bush. As the woman screams for help, he puts his hands on her chest and then runs off.
The agent, who has not been identified, told NBC Los Angeles that she was left shaken by the encounter. “I couldn’t sleep. I keep watching the video and crying,” she said.
Since the video was released, two other real estate agents have come forward and said that they believe that Karaboghosian had groped them at other open house events.
One agent, who asked to remain anonymous, told NBC Los Angeles that she recognized him after watching the video and seeing him take his hat off. She said that during an open house last June, he said he was a cabinet maker but started to ask the agent personal questions.
The woman said she became concerned and when she asked him to leave he tried to hug her. The agent said she pushed Karaboghosian away and he grabbed her chest before fleeing. The woman said a week after the incident, she saw him riding a bicycle repeatedly past a house she was showing.
The woman said she recorded a video of him riding past the house, but did not think it was clear enough for investigators to identify him and she did not file a police report.
Police said they believe there may be other victims who are not real estate agents. Karaboghosian’s bail has been set at $ 130, 000.
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