Montebello Man Helps Police Identify Child Predator

November 09, 2017- An observant resident of a local Montebello apartment building is credited for helping police locate and identify a man suspected of exposing himself to children on their way home from school yesterday afternoon. Montebello Police arrested 33 year old Santiago Jaramillo on suspicion of Indecent Exposure and Performing Lewd Acts in the presence of children, both misdeameanors that each carry sentences of up to 6 months in the county jail and a $1000.00 fine. According to police, they received a call at approximately 3:25 p.m. from a mother who was walking home with her daughter and spotted a man behind a metal gate in the 500 block of Wilcox Avenue, with his pants half way down to his knees, touching his private parts. Upon seeing this, the mother began screaming at the man which frightened him and ran away. It was around this time that a resident of the apartment building, 45 year old Rick Moran, who had just got home from work and was parking his car in a car port located at the rear of the apartment building, spotted a man exiting the side of the apartment building, holding up his pants that appeared to be un-bottoned, with his belt un-buckled. “I thought someone’s husband got home early from work and the guy had to jump out of the window”, said Moran. But when he went to the lobby of the apartment building to check his mailbox, he saw police talking to a group of children and thought maybe the guy was somehow involved. So he asked one of the students what happened and when she told him what had occurred, he immediately knew the man he saw was the man police were looking for. “Mr. Moran told us what he saw upon arriving home from work and led us to the apartment he saw the man enter, which was located on the first floor”, said Lieutenant Mark Zuniga. “We knocked on the door and a man fitting the suspect’s description opened the door. We explained the situation and asked him if he step outside for a second in order to allow the witnesses to get a good look at him and verify if he was our suspect. They immediately conveyed to our officers that he was indeed the man they saw exposing himself and he was then placed under arrest”, said Lieutenant Zuniga. He added,”We credit this arrest to the observant nature of Mr. Moran and his willingness to get involved on behalf of his community. He urge every one to be vigilant and speak up like Mr. Moran. He is the perfect example of how a normal citizen can do his or her part to fight crime and help local law enforcement.” But resident Moran takes it all in stride and humorously added..”If he thinks it ok to expose himself out here, I want to see him try doing the same thing in jail. I don’t think he’ll like it very much.”