A girl was raped on the Waltham Riverwalk in September and a woman was groped twice by a man on a bicycle last week, Massachusetts State Police said Wednesday.
Both sexual assaults are under investigation and more troopers have been sent to the area, the agency said, shortly after Waltham police announced they were stepping up patrols in the state park along the Charles River.
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Investigators were looking into whether both of the assaults were committed by the same person, police said.
The first incident took place on the night of Sept. 14, when the girl — her age wasn't given — was walking with friends near the Riverwalk's Elm Street entrance, police said. After she separated from her friends, she was grabbed from behind and pushed against a tree then sexually assaulted until her assailant thought he heard someone coming.
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The victim didn't turn around, but heard what sounded like a person riding off on a bicycle, according to police.
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673, and Massachusetts provides this list of statewide and resources for sexual assault survivors.
The second incident under investigation took place Thursday, according to police, when a woman running on the path near Prospect and Crescent streets said she was touched inappropriately twice by someone on a bicycle who approached her from behind. The woman ran off.
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The man who assaulted the woman was wearing an orange hoodie and in his 20s or 30s, according to police.
Anyone with information about the incidents are asked to call state police at 617-740-7544.
Waltham police noted in a statement that the Charles River Reservation is under the jurisdiction of state police, and said the department "has been assisting and will continue to assist with these investigations."
It wasn't immediately clear from the departments' statements when the incidents were reported to police.
