Man arrested on hate crime charges after touching woman in Westminster – NBC Los Angeles

Authorities arrested a 32-year-old man after he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman while she was inside a store, the Westminster Police Department said Tuesday.

The incident occurred at 7:42 a.m. Nov. 8 at a store in the 13500 block of Beach Boulevard in Westminster.

According to police, a 43-year-old woman, a resident of Garden Grove, entered the store and went to the laundry aisle.

As the woman bent down to grab an object, the man grabbed her buttocks with both hands “without provocation and against her will,” a Westminster police statement said.

The woman immediately stood up and threw an object at him.

The man, identified as Aaron Aubrey Navies, told the victim, “You have no rights because you are Mexican and I can do whatever I want,” the police statement said.

The woman began speaking “disgustingly” in Spanish and Navies stuck his tongue out at her and moved it up and down in what she viewed as sexual.

The incident was reported immediately and officers from Westminster Police arrived at the scene and located Navies, who was still inside the store. The man was arrested for hate crimes and sexual assault.

Westminster police are asking anyone with information to call authorities. Witnesses can also call Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS or www.occrimestoppers.org.