Brookline Crossing Guard Helps Track Down Suspect

BROOKLINE, MA — A Brookline crossing guard helped track down a man accused of indecent assault and attempted robbery at a Boston hospital May 20.

The crossing guard, whose name was redacted from the police report, told police she was at her traffic post on Boylston Street at Reservoir Road May 20 when a man wearing bright red sneakers and holding a long cigarette, according to the report. She said he came "charging at her" in the crosswalk and said something that made her back up from him, before he returned to the sidewalk and kept going.

That night, while she was watching the news, an image of the same man flashed on the TV in connection with an indecent assault. She said she told her husband and then contacted Brookline and Boston police to let them know.

The next day at her post, she said she saw the man again. She said she noticed he was wearing the same shirt and jeans as he was in the picture that she saw on the news the day before, but had changed his sneakers, according to police.

She called Brookline police to let them know which way he was headed. Brookline police stopped the man, later identified as Jose Villalongo, 54, and homeless, at Sumner Road. Police ran his name and found five default warrants for his arrest, including one for assault, disorderly conduct and trespassing, open and gross lewdness, breaking and entering and indecent exposure in both Boston and Newton, police said.

Boston police had asked for the public’s help to identify a man wanted for an indecent assault and battery and attempted robbery near Brigham and Women’s Hospital May 20.

Police described the man as about 40 to 50-years-old and 5 feet 7 inches tall. Police released a picture of him wearing a gray Under Armour tank top, jeans, red sneakers and carrying a green Celtics jacket.