PASADENA, Texas – Police are investigating whether a security guard charged with attacking at least three prostitutes could be linked to other crimes in the Pasadena area.
Steven Hobbs, 40, of Crosby, was being held without bond in the Harris County Jail Monday.
He's charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and a sexual assault charge that stems from an incident on June 17.
According to court documents, Pasadena police were investigating the murder of a prostitute. Wanda Trombley's skeletal remains were found last month in the 6100 block of Red Bluff. All three women that Hobbs is accused of assaulting knew Trombley, according to police.
Investigators asked another known prostitute if she knew of anyone who’d been harming hookers lately. She described a man she said raped her on June 17.
The victim said she got in the car with the man in the 14000 block of Renault in Houston. She said he agreed to pay her for sex, so she directed him to a nearby motel.
But before they got there, the victim said the suspect pulled out a gun and told her to undress or he would shoot her.
The victim said he drove her to a remote area in the 10600 block of Wallisville in Houston, where he sexually assaulted her.
She said he handcuffed her hands to her feet and beat her with what she thought was a mop handle.
At some point during the assault, the victim said the suspect put on a uniform and appeared to check in with a dispatcher or employer on his phone.
She described the man as very large, with reddish-blond hair and thick eyeglasses.
Police investigating an unrelated homicide came across Hobbs as a person of interest.
When officers investigating the Wallisville assault showed the victim a photo lineup that included Hobbs’ picture, police said she identified Hobbs as her attacker.
Two other prostitutes have told police that a very large white male also assaulted them. All three alleged victims knew Trombley. And that's not the only connection.
“One of the assaults occurred on the premises of a renovation company in the Wallisville area,” said Corbett. “The body of victim Wanda Trombley was found 30 feet from the driveway of the renovation company by the same name in Pasadena. Common to both places was a 40-year-old security guard – one Steven A. Hobbs of Crosby.”
Hobbs was employed as a security guard for MPS Security Services. He's 6'4 and weighs about 350 pounds.
Investigators said Hobbs’ boss confirmed that he did work as a security guard, that he had handcuffs and that he would have been working near the site of the Wallisville alleged assault that day.
Police said they’re testing to see if Hobbs could be linked to other crimes by DNA evidence.
Hobbs' neighbors on Alpha Drive in Crosby said they were upset to hear about the arrest of the married father of two.
"They're saying this couldn't have happened. And I say you don't know. You really don't know people," said Henry Naskrent.
