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Alleged groper claims to be a photographer
Nov 26, 2009 (Daily Breeze - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
A former Hawthorne man is suspected of posing as a magazine photographer and groping women who agreed to have their body parts measured for custom-fitted underwear, police said Wednesday.
Keith Nichols, 22, is suspected in at least four sexual battery assaults against young women he met near downtown Los Angeles train stations while posing as a photographer for Vibe magazine, police said.
Authorities don't know where he is.
"Keith Nichols is not a photographer," Los Angeles police Capt. Blake Chow said in a statement. "All young women, especially those riding local trains, need to know Nichols is a fraud and potentially dangerous."
Four women have reported meeting Nichols since early October. Each submitted to a personal examination.
Nichols allegedly told each woman that she could get a job modeling for the magazine if her measurements were good enough, police said.
Police said the measuring sessions occurred in secluded but public places. Nichols used a measuring tape.
None of the women recalled him taking photographs, but he did touch the women's bare breasts and groins.
Chow said the crimes were misdemeanors, but "the potential for a more serious crime is there."
Police do not know how many women Nichols has approached, how many submitted or if he has committed more serious crimes, Chow said.
In two cases, Nichols met victims on the Metro Blue Line train between Long Beach and
Los Angeles.
Each woman hoped to get a modeling job and referred a roommate to him. Each realized she was duped when he did not return her calls.
"The lure of Hollywood and a big career in modeling blinded these girls from reality," Chow said. "That's what con artists rely on."
Police said Nichols might work as a security guard. He has lived in Hawthorne, Compton and Los Angeles.
He is described as black, 5 feet 11 inches tall, and 140 pounds.
Anyone with information about Nichols' whereabouts is asked to call detectives at the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division at 213-972-1235 or the 24-hour line 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247).
larry.altman@dailybreeze.com
To see more of the Daily Breeze or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.dailybreeze.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Daily Breeze, Torrance, Calif.
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