OAKLAND — A local sex offender is back in the hot seat for allegedly masturbating onto a Safeway employee last month, and police say he has a history of near-identical arrests.
Christian Roberts, 30, was charged May 29 with a single misdemeanor count of engaging in lewd conduct, and promptly posted $5,000 bail to secure his release from jail, records show. The charge stems from an incident at a Safeway in Oakland last April, where a woman told police she felt something touch her back and turned around to see Roberts straddling her, according to police.
Roberts allegedly told the woman that some of the soda she was stocking had spilled onto her, but when she informed him she’d check the security cameras, his demeanor changed and he fled in a hurry, police said. Investigators later confirmed he had masturbated on her, according to court records.
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The alleged victim did an online search for generic terms about men masturbating on women, and Roberts’ picture popped right up from a prior arrest. She later identified him from a photo lineup and told police she’d noticed him staring at her the day before the incident, but that he didn’t approach her then, according to Oakland police.
Police say Roberts is a sex offender with a “history” of similar arrests. He last made headlines in 2022, when police in American Canyon arrested him in a near-identical incident. This time, Roberts was charged with masturbating onto a shopper who was at the store with her two children, according to a police news release.
Napa County court records say Roberts pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor sex offense and was sentenced to 101 days in jail and a one-year probation term. His actual time behind bars was reduced by half since it is considered a nonviolent offense, court records show.
At the time of the offense Roberts was on probation for convictions of indecent exposure, sexual battery, and exhibiting a weapon in public, according to Oakland police.