Manhattan Beach police bust 18 for alleged sexual conduct in Marine Avenue bathroom
Manhattan Beach police arrested 18 men for allegedly engaging in or soliciting sexual activities in a public restroom, according to the Manhattan Beach Police Department.
Late February, Los Angeles County lifeguards reported suspicious activity at the public restrooms at Marine Avenue – the same men were frequently using and returning to the bathrooms for long periods of time.
“(The lifeguards) did walk-throughs and did notice that sometimes there were two pairs of feet in the stall, sometimes three pairs of feet in the stall,” said Officer Stephanie Martin.
Lifeguards and maintenance staff also discovered holes drilled into partitions of the bathroom stalls, and graffiti depicting sexual images on the bathroom walls, Martin said.
In response, police began searching online chat rooms and social networking sites for discussions of the Marine Bathroom. On March 7, police visited the site to corroborate the reported information. Within minutes, they made their first arrest.
Five more undercover operations were conducted last month, which led police to arrest 18 adult males. “I believe undercover detectives were solicited by these folks,” Martin said.
Booking charges ranged from soliciting and engaging in lewd conduct in a public place, loitering in and around a public toilet for the purpose of engaging in lewd acts, utilizing a peephole in a restroom, invasion of privacy and indecent exposure.
Martin said the Marine bathroom may have been popular because it offered seclusion and privacy, unlike other beach bathrooms, which either don’t have stall doors or just have partial partitions.
The Marine bathroom stall doors have since been torn down, Martin said. “The bathrooms have all been cleaned up and the doors have been removed from the stalls,” she said. “There’s no more privacy or concealment available to folks who wanted to do anything in the stalls.”
Since the operation concluded on March 23, lifeguards haven’t noticed any indecent conduct, Martin said.
Police will continue to monitor public bathrooms. “Undercover operations in public restrooms will be periodically conducted; and those who participate in illegal activity will be arrested,” said Chief Eve Irvine, in a statement.
Police investigated similar crimes at another public restroom in Manhattan Beach nearly a decade ago, Martin said.
Each arrestee was released pending a court date or further investigation.