By Carol Tannenhauser
The first time it happened was on October 8, 2022, at around 12:50 p.m., police reported. A man riding a Citibike on the sidewalk, “reached out his hand and did touch the buttocks” of a 45-year-old woman who was walking near the intersection of West End Avenue and W. 72nd Street. “[He] then fled on the bicycle to parts unknown.”
The man resurfaced a month later on November 5, 2022, at around 12:26 p.m., on 7th Avenue and W. 11th Street, where he allegedly “slapped” a 30-year-old woman’s buttocks, then fled on foot “to parts unknown.”
Another month passed, and on December 8, 2022, at around 3:16 p.m., a 21-year-old woman was walking in front of 351 W. 71st Street, when “an unidentified [man] grabbed and squeezed [her] left buttock and fled on foot westbound towards W. 71 Street and Riverside Boulevard.”
There were no injuries as a result of any of these incidents. Police have identified the suspect as Jovan Villafane, 42.
Anyone with information in regard to this individual is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
All calls are strictly confidential.
No PHYSICAL injuries, that is.
I was walking back from the pediatrician’s office with my son last week when this same man began leering at me in a way that gave me shivers, refusing to break eye contact and keeping pace with my stroller. He didn’t realize my husband was half a block behind on a call and continued to follow me. He crossed the street, riding that city bike parallel to us, then zipped across, came up to my husband screaming and called him the N word. Really gave me chills to read this story.
Jovan sounds like a villain for fannies…
Really Lawrence… tell me when he does that to your daughter or wife.
Your comment concerns me that you don’t fully appreciate the terror that an attack like this can instill. A woman never knows, at the moment of the forcible touching , whether it will get worse.
Another reason I don’t feel as comfortable walking in my own neighborhood any longer.
When this person is caught, which he will be, it’s what happens then that concerns me. Would love to read follow up on this. Thank you WSR for reporting.