'There may be additional victims' | Teen facing charges in connection to several assaults in Arlington

ARLINGTON, Va. — Police believe at least five assaults that happened in Arlington County late last year are linked, and now a 17-year-old is charged in connection to them.

Police say around 3 p.m. on Nov. 29, 2022, a woman was running in the 2000 block of Arlington Boulevard when someone came up behind her, grabbed her buttocks and continued running.

Editor's Note: The video above is from a Jan. 26, 2023 report.

In January, detectives obtained a petition for assault and battery charges. In accordance with Virginia Code, the identity of the juvenile suspect is not releasable.

According to Virginia Courts, a petition is a legal document containing the written statement that brings the case into court. The petition contains facts concerning the case and requests a hearing to determine the truth of these facts and to take whatever action is appropriate and permitted by law.

At the time, Arlington County Police told WUSA9 they had received reports of similar assaults from six different victims between November and December in the Clarendon, Courthouse and Radnor/Fort Myer Heights neighborhoods.

"We are investigating this as a possible series and we are looking into the possibility of the suspect being involved in these cases," said Savage.

On May 1, Arlington County Police told WUSA9 that six additional petitions were filed in connection to four of the incidents, bringing the total number of cases to five and number of petitions filed to seven.

"That's because in two of the cases the suspect ran up from behind, grabbed the victims inappropriately and continued running. The victims continued along the path and the suspect reproaches from behind and touches them inappropriately for a second time. So in those two cases there were two incidents resulting in two petitions being sought in each of those cases," said Arlington County Police Department public information officer Ashley Savage. 

Below are the four additional incident locations, according to Arlington County Police:

Police say they believe there may be more victims. 

"We do believe there may be additional victims out there. We do know from investigating cases like this, that individuals don't always come forward. There may be many reasons for that, but we really want to reassure the public that if you have something like this happen to you, we want to hear from you. We want to investigate those cases. So, if you have any additional information related to this investigation we're asking that you contact Arlington County Police," said Savage.

She told WUSA9 that they understand the concern that's sometimes associated with coming forward in cases like this.

"We always take an approach of really treating the victim with as much care as we can, and really following what they may want in the case. We understand there may be times where people are not really seeking to go through the court process and we understand that, but we can also connect to individuals with other resources in our community. There's a lot of support services, so we're here to help and be an ear to listen," said Savage.

She shared these resources for anyone who is a victim:

Information may also be provided anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).