For a good portion of 2011, Northern Virginia was paralyzed in fear of a man who had made a habit of sneaking up behind unsuspecting shoppers in area malls and slashing their posteriors with box cutters and razors. His shenanigans continued unabated for months, until authorities identified the man as Johnny Guillen Pimentel and the slicing stopped. Now, officials fear their suspect may have fled to Peru.
The butt cutter would indulge in his odd habit this summer at malls in the DC area. A young woman, in her teens or twenties, would be distracted by a commotion while shopping, and before she knew it, her ass would be slashed. No one was seriously injured in the attacks that every single media outlet in the world reported as "bizarre," but victims were seriously unnerved and asses lived in constant fear. In total, nine women have come forward to report being victimized.
Then, in September, a break in the case. Authorities used surveillance footage and citizen tips to identify the man as Johnny Guillen Pimentel, a Peruvian immigrant who came to the US 8 or 9 years ago. His brother, who also lives in the states, claimed Pimentel had never displayed violent tendencies.
It now seems that Pimentel has exported his derrière filleting skills back to his home country. Authorities believe that he's been in Lima since mid-December, and they're seeking extradition. Peruvian media also believes that the corta nalgas has returned home, and has warned citizens to be on the lookout.
If convicted, Pimentel faces a charge of malicious wounding and years of being the butt of late night comedians' monologue jokes.
Suspect in bizarre attacks on young women flees US, authorities say [WaPo]
DISCUSSION
I live in the VA/DC area, and this guy attacked women at some of the shopping centers I regularly shop at. I didn't let that stop me continue to enjoy my occasional retail trips, but my family was actually really concerned and telling me to cool the trips. My brothers, who initially found it somewhat comical that a guy was attacking women's butts, quickly changed their tunes when they realized how often I'm in these areas—it took a sense of personal threat (aka the thought of someone they know becoming a victim) to make them recognize how not funny it was. And some of my girl friends would say they weren't going to go to these locations/similar places out of concern/fear. That's not funny.
It's far from funny to be in a situation where you're being profiled and potentially targeted for physical harm, no matter how absurd the situation is. I mean come on, this happens all over the world to various degrees of extreme behavior, and it's messed up that just because this violence targeted "butts" that people giggle. Would it still be funny if these were homosexuals being targeted? Saudi women? Kids under the age of 12? What is it about identifying just who is being marginalized to make people rate how messed up a situation is? There seems to be something about context that make people go, "Oh, he's only scratching *women's* butts. Hell, young adult women at that. That's no big deal! That's what they get for doing all that shopping—they should just keep their butts at home! OH, SEE WHAT I DID THERE?" And this double standard boggles my infuriated mind. Thankfully, the women who reported being attacked seemed to suffer minor cuts—nothing too deep. But hell, not only could the victims have been susceptible to infection or some sort of disease (who knows what he used to slash them, or if it was sterile or filthy), but they could be susceptible to emotional and psychological trauma. But "butts" are involved. And butts are funny.