Teen Recognizes Her Alleged Attacker's Photo; Arrest Made In HMB

HALF MOON BAY, CA — A 22-year-old man was arrested Friday on new charges after a girl saw a story about his recent arrest for sexual assault in Half Moon Bay and recognized a photograph of the suspect as her alleged attacker from an incident that occurred June 2018, but was never solved, according to officials.

Matthew Hann was arrested at his Half Moon Bay home for suspicion of assault with intent to commit rape and alleged sexual penetration with force on a minor in connection with the 2018 incident, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office said.

The teen, now 15 years old, was walking her dog June 30, 2018 on the Coast Side Trail in Half Moon Bay when she was sexually assaulted, according to the department. The victim fought the man and fled the scene.

Hann previously was taken into custody in late August 2019 for a different crime — the purported sexual assault of a woman, an attack that allegedly took place in the man's vehicle outside Old Princeton Landing, a restaurant and bar on Capistrano Road in Half Moon Bay, officials said. The vicitm in that case contacted law enforcement on Aug. 6 to report the assault that reportedly happened in February, deputies said.

In that case, Hann was arrested Aug. 24 and booked into the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City on suspicion of felony charges of oral copulation and sexual penetration, deputies said.

The victim in the 2018 case was 14 years old at the time and reported her assault to authorities on July 3, 2018, describing her attacker as a white man, in his 40s, about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with a "chubby" to medium build, brown hair with a "short and shaggy" brown beard. She said he was wearing a red hoodie sweatshirt and jeans and described him overall as "dirty," officials said.

The incident happened on Saturday, June 30 sometime between 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., sheriff's Det. Rosemerry Blankswade said at the time. The girl was with her dog in the Pillar Point Boat Launch Ramp parking lot in Half Moon Bay when the incident occurred.

"An unknown male subject approached the juvenile and inappropriately touched her," Blankswade said then. "The juvenile was able to defend herself and she fled the area."

"During the investigation, detectives did not have enough information to identify a suspect,
until recently, when the victim was reading the newspaper and came across an article about Hann’s recent sexual-assault arrest," the department said today. "After seeing his photograph, she immediately recognized him as the suspect who assaulted her."

Anyone with information about the suspect, or also possibly was victimized by him, is asked to contact Detective Derespini at 650-363-4055, or by email at rderespini@smcgov.org, or Detective Sgt. Cang at 650-363-4008, or by email at jcang@smcgov.org.

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• Suspect Accused Of Sexual Assault In Half Moon Bay
• Man 'Inappropriately' Touches Girl, 14, In Half Moon Bay: Police

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