On Wednesday morning, August 26, 2009, three Placerita Junior High Students, advised school administrators of a suspicious man in a vehicle. They said that the man was parked on 15th Street and Chestnut Avenue, Newhall, for the past two days and possibly other days during the week. The students said that on one occasion they were able to see through the open window of the car and noticed a male seated in the driver’s seat was exposing himself and was in the commission of a lewd act. The students gave a good description of the vehicle with a partial license plate number.
A short distance away a deputy responded to a second call on Thursday from a local woman reporting that she had been a victim of an indecent exposure. She described the same vehicle and gave a similar license plate number, in the same general area.
Deputies were already investigating the initial report and the school resource deputy was searching the area Thursday morning for the suspect when the call came in. Through the second witness’s account of the events, coupled with the information from the first incident, deputies were able to identify a possible vehicle. They found the vehicle was registered to a Walnut Street address in Newhall and fit the description.
They went to the location and located the car. The owner of the car also matched the description. They arrested Byron Orellana, M/49, of Newhall, for indecent exposure. Orellana was booked at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station and is being held in lieu of $30,000 bail pending future court proceedings.
Deputies credit the quick actions of the girls and other residents for being good witnesses, getting a license plate number and immediately contacting authorities.