Man caught masturbating in car with daughter in back seat
Guadalupe resident arrested for indecent exposure, child endangerment
Eric Manuel Salinas.
–San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office deputies have arrested 29-year-old Guadalupe resident Eric Manuel Salinas for child endangerment, annoying or molesting a child, and indecent exposure in a public place.
On Tuesday at approximately 10:25 a.m., a deputy responded to a report of man seen masturbating in his parked car along Avila Beach Drive. Several women reported they were walking on the Bob Jones Trail when one of them noticed a parked car adjacent to them on Avila Beach Drive. The car had its’ passenger side door open. When one of the women walked by she noticed an overweight man with no pants, seated in the driver’s seat, masturbating, according to the sheriff’s office. As the woman yelled out, the man began to drive away from the area with his the passenger door still open. A witness was able to get a partial license plate number of the car.
Minutes later, a deputy spotted the car matching the description of the suspect’s vehicle and license plate number. The deputy initiated a traffic stop and as he approached the vehicle, noticed a young female child, later identified as the suspect’s 2-year-old daughter, seated in the backseat without a child safety seat. After witnesses positively identified the suspect, he was arrested without incident.
Based on the fact that driving away from the area with his car door open and his two-year-old daughter not having a child safety seat could likely cause great bodily injury or death, and the fact she had observed him masturbating, Salinas was booked for child endangerment, annoying or molesting a child, and indecent exposure in a public place, the sheriff’s office reports.
The girl was placed in protective custody and turned over to Child Protective Services.
