Investigators identified a man accused of repeatedly attacking a transgender business owner in Los Angeles' Westlake District last year.
The Los Angeles Police Department released photos of 24-year-old Paul Alan Thomas, hoping the public could help detectives locate him. Officers arrested one of Thomas' alleged accomplices, Samuel Parros, last June.
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Paul Alan Thomas, 24, is accused of beating a transgender business owner in the Westlake District.
Thomas, Parros and another man allegedly attacked 61-year-old Sabrina De La Pena at her shop several times between April 2025 and June 2025.
"They punched me. They kicked me. I tried to go outside, they pushed me inside," De La Pena said in an interview with CBS News Los Angeles last year. "I received more than 50 punches. After that, I started screaming, and when nobody was coming, I said OK and asked God why?"
The series of attacks began on April 8, when one of the suspects tried to flirt with De La Pena, according to police. Detectives said the suspect left the store after she denied his advances.
He allegedly returned shortly later, sexually assaulted De La Pena and threatened to kill her when he discovered she was a transgender woman, according to LAPD.
Officers have not specified if Thomas, Parros or the other man was the initial suspect.
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The Los Angeles Police Department released the photos of Thomas, Parros and an unidentified third suspect last year. LAPD
Detectives said Thomas, Parros and another man returned multiple times and continued to beat her. In three separate instances, the group of men allegedly beat De La Pena with a skateboard, pepper-sprayed her and threw an unknown liquid on her while another suspect tried to taser her, according to police.
De La Pena said she has been attacked six times in that three-month span. She has owned two shops in the Westlake District for 40 years and has never had a problem until then.
Anyone with information regarding the case or similar incidents can contact Detective Jose Hidalgo at (213) 713-2932. Anonymous tips can be sent to LA Regional Crime Stoppers at 1(800) 222-8477 or via their website at www.lacrimestoppers.org.