John Puncel Targeted Underage Girl for Upskirt Video at the Grove, Mom Says

Glendale police

Puncel.

If the accusations are true, this guy and his trusty camera phone have been getting around.

In fact, the same day (Jan. 31) cops in Glendale say he was holding his phone low to capture a skirt wearing woman as she rode an escalator, he had also allegedly captured noontime images of an underage girl at the Grove. So says the girl's mom:

She told us this week that ...

... we were in Anthropologie looking at clothes, our backs were turned as we were looking at a Bailey 44 dress and I happened to turn around with dress in hand and there he was standing behind us with his iPhone under my daughter's skirt. I flipped out! I tried to grab his arm, he ran out the store, I yelled to employees that were standing at the entrance to call security/police.

The mom says she chased him down as he tried to pay for his parking at a kiosk in one of the Grove's structures:

As I jumped his body from the side, trying to grab his phone, up popped my daughter's crotch, then I really even got more pissed. He pushes me away and says "I'm Crazy"!

She said the suspect got away and drove out of the lot without paying by tailgating a vehicle ahead of him as it exited a gate.

Her story is corroborated by Grove officials. A source told us that Puncel is someone they're looking at for two similar alleged crimes two weeks apart (including an incident in mid-January).

He said security personnel tried to nab the suspect but failed both times. But he said the man was captured on security video.

The mom told us she reported the incident to the LAPD and that a sex crimes detective is looking into it. The LAPD was unable to confirm this, however.

But Glendale police, who seized Puncel's computer in a warrant search of his home, said they're looking into the possibility that more victims were targeted by Puncel and that at least some of them were underage.

Forty-nine-year-old Puncel, by the way, remains free until the District Attorney's Office decides the next move.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]