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Video Captures Man Stalking Woman Before Alleged Attack

WINTHROP (CBS) – A Lynn man was arrested Thursday on charges that he tried to kidnap and rape a woman walking in Winthrop.

Police say the woman was walking down Revere Street on Monday around 9:30 p.m. when a man in a grey Honda Civic pulled in front of her. A surveillance camera at a liquor store captured the suspect following the woman in his car.

The man allegedly "started calling her beautiful and asked her to take a ride with him," but the woman said she was not interested and continued walking.

According to police, the man then followed the woman and told her to get in his car. She refused, and was punched and sexually assaulted in an isolated area, police say. The suspect's three-year-old child was in the car at the time of the alleged attack.

"He got angry, he punched her in the face, fractured her nose and orbital and bruised and swelled her face," said Winthrop Police Chief Terrence Delehanty.

The woman's screams caused the suspect to leave the area, but she was able to take down his license plate number.

In the days following the incident, police identified Gerardo Elenilson Portillo of Lynn as a suspect.

He was arrested Thursday at his job in Somerville. He was charged with assault with intent to rape, attempted kidnapping, indecent assault and battery, and child endangerment.

"He was a predator on a single female walking alone at night in an isolated area," Delehanty said. "That's a predator."

Winthrop Police asked any other women or girls who may have been approached or assaulted under similar circumstances to contact police.

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