Booking Photos |
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. (KTLA) -- Prosecutors charged two men this week in separate cases of annoying children on county buses.
"Ensuring the safety of our passengers is a responsibility that all of us at OCTA take to heart each and every day," said county supervisor Patricia Bates, who is also chairwoman of the Orange County Transportation Authority. "The outstanding work of our Transit Police Services in apprehending these suspects once again delivers the message that if you commit a crime on a bus in Orange County, you will be caught."
In the first incident, Orange County Sheriff's deputies arrested Keith Edward Froman, 48, Nov. 9 after investigators used his bus pass to trace his movements along bus routes and find surveillance footage of his activities aboard the buses.
Froman allegedly approached a teenaged boy on a county bus at a stop at the intersection of Brookhurst Street and Lincoln Avenue in Anaheim. Froman allegedly approached the boy and made lewd remarks. The boy walked away but Froman allegedly followed him around the bus and sat next to him.
Froman then alluded to drugs and romance, prosecutors said.
He was arrested following a Sheriff's Department investigation. He has been charged with child annoyance and is now held on $10,000 bail at the Orange County Jail.
In the second incident, deputies arrested Martin Esquibel Aguilar, 44, on Nov. 4. after he allegedly stalked and annoyed a 14-year-old girl aboard a bus in September.
Aguilar sat next to the girl on several occasions in September and asked her personal questions, prosecutors said. As time progressed, he grew more aggressive. The girl would change seats and Aguilar would follow her.
On one occasion, Aguilar presented the girl with a white rose, prosecutors said.
After his arrest, Aguilar pleaded guilty to child annoyance and was sentenced to 60 days in jail with three years probation.
"Our investigators will use every technological means and employ every element of good police work to protect our bus riders, and especially our young bus riders, from the predators who would harm them," Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said in a prepared statement.
"Ensuring the safety of our passengers is a responsibility that all of us at OCTA take to heart each and every day," said county supervisor Patricia Bates, who is also chairwoman of the Orange County Transportation Authority. "The outstanding work of our Transit Police Services in apprehending these suspects once again delivers the message that if you commit a crime on a bus in Orange County, you will be caught."
In the first incident, Orange County Sheriff's deputies arrested Keith Edward Froman, 48, Nov. 9 after investigators used his bus pass to trace his movements along bus routes and find surveillance footage of his activities aboard the buses.
Froman allegedly approached a teenaged boy on a county bus at a stop at the intersection of Brookhurst Street and Lincoln Avenue in Anaheim. Froman allegedly approached the boy and made lewd remarks. The boy walked away but Froman allegedly followed him around the bus and sat next to him.
Froman then alluded to drugs and romance, prosecutors said.
He was arrested following a Sheriff's Department investigation. He has been charged with child annoyance and is now held on $10,000 bail at the Orange County Jail.
In the second incident, deputies arrested Martin Esquibel Aguilar, 44, on Nov. 4. after he allegedly stalked and annoyed a 14-year-old girl aboard a bus in September.
Aguilar sat next to the girl on several occasions in September and asked her personal questions, prosecutors said. As time progressed, he grew more aggressive. The girl would change seats and Aguilar would follow her.
On one occasion, Aguilar presented the girl with a white rose, prosecutors said.
After his arrest, Aguilar pleaded guilty to child annoyance and was sentenced to 60 days in jail with three years probation.
"Our investigators will use every technological means and employ every element of good police work to protect our bus riders, and especially our young bus riders, from the predators who would harm them," Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said in a prepared statement.
