Police: Transient Sexually Assaulted Homeless Boy In Attempted Kidnapping In Riverside Park Restroom
RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) — A transient faces charges of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a child Monday after allegedly molesting a boy who had been using a Riverside park restroom.
Ryan Funk, 31, was arrested Friday and booked on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault on a minor under 14, kidnapping with the intent to commit rape and violating his post release community supervision. He is being held on $1 million bail.
Officers were sent to Hunter Park, 1401 Iowa Ave., at about 1 a.m. Friday to investigate reports of a sexual battery. At the park, a woman who had been living in her car with her two children told the officers she had allowed her 12-year-old son to use the park restroom alone.
The boy returned to his mother's car and told her a man had just sexually assaulted him, police said. Officers found the suspect still at the park and detained him.
The mother and her two children were given temporary transitional housing and referred them to outreach services from the city's Office of Homeless Solutions and the Public Safety Engagement Team, police said.
Funk is scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday.
Anyone with information about the investigation can contact Detective Jarid Zuetel at (951) 353-7133 or email jzuetel@riversideca.gov or Detective Christi Arnold at (951) 353-7945 or by email at carnold@riversideca.gov.
