The man behind a series of sex offenses plaguing a Virgina park where children frequent was arrested creeping near the area and then trying to run away half-naked, police say.
Felix Antonio Mejias Vigil, 35, was spotted by a surveillance camera pacing around Franconia Park on Thursday evening, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
Vigil fit the description of the serial sex offender who had been exposing himself at the park throughout July and September, so Franconia and Mount Vernon police rushed to the scene, cops said.
As Vigil tried to flee, he began stripping and throwing his clothes in the woods, authorities said.
Vigil of Fairfax was quickly arrested with the top layer of his clothes gone.
Police believe Vigil may be behind several sex offenses, including public masturbations, that were reported at or near the park, which is home to the Chessie’s Big Backyard children’s playground.
Over the summer, police recorded an incident where a man appeared to be masturbating in public on Telegraph Road, which is also adjacent to the VHBC Preschool.
Then July 28, a call came in about a sex offender conducting “indecent liberties” with a minor at the nearby Virginia Hills Swim Club.
The sex offender also struck again twice at the same spot on Telegraph Road on Sept. 19 and 22. In additiona, the suspect appeared to masturbate in public Sept. 22 on Diana Lane, a short road that leads to the Virginia Hills School.
Vigil was charged with two counts of indecent liberties with a child under 15, four counts of actual or simulated masturbation in public and false identification to law enforcement.
He is being held at the Adult Detention Center without bail.
This isn’t the first time Fairfax County Police have had to deal with a serial sex offender prowling a popular public area where children play.
Last year, Juan Rodriguez Alfaro was arrested for terrorizing women and girls in a string of at least 21 separate assault and sexual battery-related incidents along the Washington and Old Dominion Trail.
Alfaro was identified as an undocumented immigrant from Honduras who was also wanted in New York for attacking a jogger.
Read the full article here
