Crime & Safety

Sex Assault Arrestee Admits to Nine Sonoma Area Incidents

Authorities ask for any alleged victims to come forward with information.

A man arrested for allegedly in Sonoma has confessed to four other incidents in the city, as well as four more unreported assaults in nearby unincorporated areas and some in other counties, according to Sonoma police.

Samuel Johnson Lyons, 36, is being held at the Sonoma county jail on charges related to the incidents that were reported in Sonoma.

Lyons told authorities the assaults had all occurred since 2009, most of them since September 2011, Sgt. Spencer Crum told Patch.

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"He has been very cooperative," Crum said."We've solved five cases."

Crum said Lyons confessed to incidents involving two girls aged 13 and 14, as well as three adult women. In each reported case, the victim reported a man had groped her breast or buttocks. The incidents occurred outside a doctor's office, a church, a car wash and the Safeway supermarket. The fifth reported case happened on Third Street West. In most of the cases, the victims reported the suspect fled on a bicycle.

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However, in the incident that occurred in the Safeway parking lot, the victim followed the suspect and saw him get into a vehicle, Crum said. She took a photo of the license plate with her phone and called police. Officers were able to determine the man's address and arrested him at his home on Petaluma Street a few minutes later, Crum said.

There was an outstanding warrant for the suspect, related to one of the incidents that happened in May 2012, Crum said.

Following the arrest, Lyons told police he had sexually assaulted women in the general El Verano area—at Taco Bell, Maxwell Park, Verano Bridge and Chicken BBQ, Crum said. However, authorities found no related reports on file.

Lyons is described as a white male, approximately 6 feet 2 inches and weighing about 270 pounds. His hair color is brown; however he is bald at this time, Crum said.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit is investigating the incidents. Anyone with any knowledge of these events is asked to contact Detective Dave Berges at (707) 565-8290.


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