3 Women Credited With Stopping Potential Sexual Assault
— -- Three California women are being credited for stopping a potential sexual assault attempt after they said they spoke out about a man who appeared to be putting something into a woman's drink.
Sonia Ulrich, Marla Saltzer and Monica Kenyon said they were at a Santa Monica hotel for happy hour last Thursday when Kenyon first noticed a man and a woman at a nearby table who appeared to be on a date.
The women told ABC News they noticed the man acting “pretty suspicious” when his female companion left the table to go to the restroom.
“I thought he was trying to lace her drink,” Kenyon said. “He for sure dropped something into her drink.”
The friends took action, with one of them following the woman into the bathroom to let her know what she and her friends believed to have just seen.
“It was a weird, awkward thing to be like, ‘Hi, I know this is really weird but we saw the guy you were with put something in your drink,” Ulrich said of talking to the stranger in the restroom. “She said, ‘He’s one of my best friends.’”
Meanwhile, another of the three friends alerted the restaurant’s staff. The manager told the women that the restaurant’s security footage appeared to corroborate their suspicions and called police.
Police arrested the suspect, 25-year-old Michael Hsu, at the hotel. Hsu is now being held on $1 million bail and facing two felony counts, intent to commit felony and intent to use a drug to commit a felony, according to police.
Hsu is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
“I was relieved that he got busted,” Saltzer said.
“I am completely filled with gratitude that we were able to help another woman out,” Kenyon added.
Ulrich took to Facebook Friday to share her and her friends' story, posting a photo of the three of them posing like the heroines of “Charlie’s Angels.” The photo is captioned, "Don’t Roofie Someone On Our Watch.”
"Roofie" is slang for a sedative associated with date rape.
“I really wanted people to know that if they say something, it can make a difference,” Ulrich said.
