(11-29) 11:34 PST PALO ALTO -- A Palo Alto woman woke up early Thursday with an intruder in her bedroom, police said.
The assault has police wondering if the intruder, who entered the apartment at the 100 block of Hawthorne Avenue after breaking a lock, might be the same man who has groped three other women in August and September.
All have happened within walking distance of the Palo Alto Caltrain station.
In Thursday's incident, a man broke his way into the first-floor unit of a woman in her 20s, said Detective Sgt. Brian Philip.
She woke up just after 2 a.m. and found the man standing over her bed. She sat up and he yelled at her, pinning her down to the bed by the wrists, Philip said. He fled after she fought back and screamed.
Police searched the area but the assailant had escaped.
He was described as being in his 20s or 30s, having a medium build and wearing a hooded dark jacket and dark pants, Philip said.
In the earlier cases, the groper was described as being around 30 years old and about 5 feet 9 inches tall, with an average build and black hair.
In those cases, that suspect approached women who were alone during daylight hours and grabbed and fondled their buttocks or breasts before running away. The assaults happened at El Palo Alto Park, Stanford Shopping Center and in downtown Palo Alto on Hamilton Avenue.
"There's always that chance that it's related to those incidents because of the location and the nature of the crime," Philip said.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Palo-Alto-woman-awoken-by-intruder-4077745.php#ixzz2DjUvEAC2
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