Knife-wielding man exposing himself to children arrested in Palo Alto
Joshua Brass of East Palo Alto.
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Police have arrested a man in Palo Alto after he stole a wallet and committed crimes against children in a car Friday morning.
The incident unfolded around 12:45 a.m. in the 100 block of Hamilton Avenue when officers received a car about a man, whom police identified as Joshua Keenan Brass of East Palo Alto, with a knife exposing himself to her two children, 7 years old and 11 months old, inside her parked car.
The mother told police that 10 minutes earlier, she entered a nearby business where her boyfriend was cleaning and that when she returned to the car, she saw the 30-year-old suspect in the driver's seat of her car.
The mother said Brass had exposed himself and held a knife against her 7-year-old son and removed the infant from their car seat.
The mother ran inside a business to get help and returned with her boyfriend, where they "startled" Brass, police said.
Brass ran away, and the mother called the police.
Police said during their investigation they learned that Brass had sexually battered the woman's son and struck the infant in the face when removing the child from the car seat.
The boyfriend's wallet from the car's center console was also missing.
Brass was located by police around 4 a.m. at the Emerson Street and Lytton Avenue intersection.
He was taken to the Santa Clara County Main Jail for committing a lewd act on a minor, assault with a deadly weapon, child endangerment, assault with intent to commit a sex act, and kidnapping with intent to commit a sex act - all felonies, police said.