Campus officials warned students this week that a series of sexual batteries have taken place near USC in February and March.

Since Feb. 27 USC security officials have logged four incidents in which young men grabbed the buttocks of women on foot in the university area.

This week the university issued a crime alert to warn students about the crimes.

At 12:20 a.m. on March 11, the latest incident involved a young man in USC basketball shorts who approached a woman “from her rear left side and grabbed her buttocks” at 30th Street and Shrine Place, officials said.

On March 10, a pair of incidents happened, they said:

At 6:55 p.m. at 643 W. 28th St. a suspect in “a group of four to five … males riding BMX style bicycles” slapped the behind of a woman walking down the sidewalk.

It sounds like authorities rounded up some suspects. But the victim “could not identify the perpetrator” in a “field identification” lineup, officials said.

At almost the same time, at 947 W. 30th St, one of two males on BMX bikes “harshly slapped” the buttocks of a woman walking on a sidewalk, authorities said. Again, the victim did not pick out a suspect during a “field identification” lineup, they said.


Finally, at 3:20 p.m. on Feb. 27 a teenage boy turned and slapped the rear end of a woman who was walking in the opposite direction on a sidewalk at 737 West 28th St, officials said.

In a statement, USC said this:

It is a crime to intentionally touch someone against his or her will, regardless of the situation.

The University of Southern California condemns sexual assault in all its forms. The actions of the perpetrator(s) of the crimes listed in this alert and prior similar crimes will not be tolerated by the USC campus community. 

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