Teen groper targets women in Burnaby: police

RCMP in Burnaby, B.C., are asking women in the Edmonds SkyTrain area to be on the alert for a serial groper believed to be 14 to 16 years old.

Ten women have reported being assaulted around the Edmonds SkyTrain Station on Kingsway since January, Cpl. Alexandra Mulvihill said Thursday.

The teenage boy targeted young and older women from different ethnic backgrounds at various times of the day, Mulvihill said.

"He was merely walking by them and would grab their buttock or breast area, then keep on going," she said.

Police said many of the victims were getting off the bus or waiting at a street corner when the attacks took place.

One of the victims reported to the police after she was groped for a third time.

"We can't send a targeted team to go out and sit at a location at a specific time because of the wide variety of women and the times of the day," Mulvihill said.

The women describe the groper as a black teenager between 14 and 16 years old with a thin baby face, Mulvihill said.

He's about 5 foot 4 inches tall, 110 pounds and was wearing baggy clothes at the time of the attacks.

The teen has not escalated his attacks on the women beyond groping, but police are asking any women who may have been targeted to come forward, Mulvihill said.

Burnaby RCMP's sex crimes unit has taken over the investigation.