HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Hollywood police have arrested a man who they said confessed to following women throughout the city in an attempt to “conduct lewd acts toward or with,” authorities announced on Friday.
James Ducker, 32, of Dania Beach, faces charges of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle, indecent exposure in public and loitering and prowling.
One of the victims was a 19-year-old woman who told Local 10 News that she was nearly abducted May 19 while jogging along the Hollywood Beach Golf Course around 2:30 p.m.
“You just don’t know who could be right behind you,” she told Local 10 News reporter Christian De La Rosa. “I had my music playing in my ears and everything.”
She said that’s when a car suddenly approached her.
“Hey, it is raining. Would you like a ride?” Ducker asked the woman, according to his arrest report.
The victim told Local 10 News that she kept running, but went a bit faster when she saw that the had man made a U-turn.
“He pulls over, gets out of the car and starts coming towards me,” the woman said.
Police said Ducker chased the victim, and the college freshman said he got dangerously close.
"It was almost his fingertips brushed up on me," she said. "If he was a little bit faster than me, something bad could’ve happened."
Thankfully, the victim made it home safely.
According to Hollywood police, detectives began surveilling Ducker on Wednesday regarding numerous suspicious incidents throughout the city involving a blue Chevrolet Malibu that is registered to him.
Police said Ducker confessed to following women for several blocks and maneuvering his car to block or stop his victims.
Authorities said he also confessed to “prowling the city in search of women to conduct lewd acts toward or with.”
After his arrest on Wednesday, detectives linked Ducker to two additional incidents in which he tried to lure women into his car, authorities said.
Anyone who believes they have been victimized by Ducker is asked to call the Hollywood Police Department.