People v. Mason CA3

BACKGROUND

While Julia C. (Julia) was loading groceries into her car on July 3, 2016, at a WinCo Foods in Redding, a white truck pulled into the spot next to the driver’s side of her car. As she got into her car, she looked over at the white truck and saw the male driver lift his hips to show her that he was masturbating. Julia saw the driver moving his hand on his exposed penis. She looked over a second time and the driver did the same thing. Although the driver looked at her, Julia did not recall looking at his face. Julia pulled her car forward and called 911.1 She circled around and pulled behind the truck as it drove away to obtain its license plate number before the driver pulled away. Julia described the man’s truck as a white Ford Ranger, and she provided the 911 dispatcher with a license plate number that started with the letter “B.” Recognizing that California license plates typically start with a number rather than a letter, the responding officer changed the “B” to an “8” and searched a vehicle database; he received a match for a Ford pickup truck owned by defendant. Two days later, defendant committed an identical offense. On July 5, 2016, Paula R. (Paula) returned…