By Lookout Staff

April 2, 2024 -- A homeless man who sexually preyed on homeless women, including one victim in Santa Monica, has been sentenced to eight years in State prison, according to police.

Anthony Pittman, 39, a previously convicted sex offender, was sentenced after pleading no contest in February to a series of nighttime sexual assaults he committed between August and September 2022.

The Santa Monica assault took place on September 27 at around 4 a.m. when a homeless woman sleeping near the Santa Monica Library "awoke to a male suspect attempting to remove her blankets," police said.

"She attempted to run from the suspect but was tackled to the ground where he sexually assaulted her," said Lt. Erika Aklufi, the Police Department spokesperson.

"A few hours after the incident, she walked to the Santa Monica Police Station and made an official report," Aklufi said.

Pittman was linked through DNA evidence to victims in other incidents that took place in LAPD’s Northeast and Wilshire Divisions, police said. The victims were all homeless female adults.

Pittman was arrested on March 14, 2023 in West Hollywood one day after a sexual assault took place on the 7600 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, according to the WeHo Times.

"The suspect approached the victim at a bus bench and forced her to a nearby parking garage where the sexual assault occurred," the Times reported.