‘Fondler’ Pickpocket Suspect Is Identified by 12 Elderly Victims

Publicity surrounding the arrest earlier this month of a woman suspected of fondling an elderly man to distract him while she picked his pockets has prompted other possible victims to come forward, bringing the total to about 40, Los Angeles police said.

Twenty-eight San Fernando Valley residents, most of them men, were bused by police to a lineup at the Sybil Brand Institution for Women late Tuesday. Twelve of them identified Kathy Stevens of Canoga Park as the woman who robbed them, Police Detective Ed Pikor said.

Lt. Bill Gaida said several other victims who reported crimes to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were to have attended the lineup but plans to provide a bus for them fell through at the last moment.

Police said they have also discovered that warrants for Stevens’ arrest on grand theft charges have been issued by authorities in New York City and San Francisco.

Stevens, 29, is being held on suspicion of grand theft and robbery. Pikor said her bail was raised from $1,500 to $250,000 when detectives discovered the outstanding warrants and learned that attempts were being made by a Gypsy clan in New York City to get her out of jail.

An alleged accomplice, Peter John, 32, of Canoga Park is also being held in lieu of $250,000 bail on suspicion of grand theft.

The victims told police they were approached by a woman who introduced herself by saying, “Hi, I know you from the doctor’s office,� before fondling their genitals and going through their pockets, Pikor said.

“Every elderly person has at least one doctor and most of them didn’t want to be impolite and say they didn’t remember her,� Pikor said. “Before they knew it, her hands were all over them.�

In most cases the woman further distracted her victims by wearing a loose, wraparound dress with nothing on underneath, Pikor said.

“She’d bend over and they’d sneak a peek and go, ‘Whoa,’ � Pikor said.

Stevens’ attorney, Rex Ellis, said his client may be a victim of mistaken identity because she has a sister in New York City who recently spent some time in the Los Angeles area.

Stevens used a dozen aliases, Pikor said, and police believe she may have victimized others while living in Detroit and Miami.

“We can put her in New York in ‘82, Miami and Detroit in ’83 and here from January or February of ‘85,� Pikor said.

Although “95% of the victims were males,� Pikor said there were a couple of cases where elderly women were approached by a young woman using the same doctor’s-office line and offering to help carry their groceries, later stealing items from their apartments.

The detective said he will recommend that the district attorney file 26 charges of grand theft against Stevens before her preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for Nov. 5. He said, however, that police believe the total of victims is “somewhere around 40,� based on descriptions given by the men and the pickpocket’s method of operation.

Pikor said complaints from elderly victims began crossing his desk several months ago, but it was not until earlier this month that detectives got their first solid lead from a man who was accosted by the pickpocket at Fallbrook Mall in Canoga Park.

“When she started groping the guy he said, ‘Whatever you want, I don’t have’ and pushed her away,� Pikor said.

The woman got into a car and the man jotted down the license plate, Pikor said. The car was spotted near Fallbrook Mall Oct. 6, he said, and Stevens and John were arrested when a 70-year-old man allegedly resisted Stevens’ advances and began struggling with her while John ran to her aid.

A search of the pair’s Canoga Park apartment turned up two credit cards and a bank card belonging to three of the earlier victims, Pikor said.

Pikor said that investigators would have booked the pair on more charges but that several of the victims had died since filing complaints.

Ellis credited police with holding a “very well organized lineup� but questioned the ability of some of the older victims to accurately identify his client.

“They were all quite aged,� Ellis said. “And the glass is quite thick, as you know.�