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The serial sex fiends terrorizing Brooklyn have spooked women into changing their daily routines to avoid being the next victim.
Women who were night owls either for work or play said they now find themselves rushing home before sunset, while those caught after dark are refusing to walk the sidewalks alone.
“I don’t work as late, because I’m afraid I’ll be raped on my way home,” said Jessica Hernandez, 26, a mortgage broker in Park Slope.
Hernandez said that she used to catch up on paperwork at her office well past 1 a.m. during the week but that since the spate of attacks — now numbering 20 in the area since March — she tries to be out the door every day by 7 p.m.
“If I have to leave any later, I try to get a ride,’’ she said, “or I take a cab, but that gets really expensive.”
For months, at least two men have subjected local women to groping attacks.
One of the women was raped, and cops fear more victims would have been raped had they not screamed or been able to fight back.
Police have so far busted only one man in connection with one of the attacks. Another creep was arrested for two assaults, but they were not included in the pattern of 20, because he didn’t fit the similar description of the other attackers.
Cops have beefed up their presence in response to the slew of assaults in Park Slope, Greenwood Heights, Windsor Terrace and Sunset Park — but women are still plenty on edge.
“I . . . feel worried and stressed about it,” said Stacey Gawronski, 30, assistant manager of Thistle Hill Tavern in Park Slope.
“The attacks are all anyone talks about.”
She said she used to walk to her home in Windsor Terrace after she knocked off at about midnight but now hangs around up to 45 minutes after her shift for her boyfriend, a waiter, to escort her there.
She added that if for some reason she does find herself walking alone, her key protrudes firmly from her fist as a makeshift weapon.
Anthony Serrantonio, owner of the 12th Street Bar and Grill in Park Slope, said he’s been discouraging his female employees from walking home alone or taking the subway near where any of the attacks have occurred.
“If they want a car service, we will pay for it,” he said. “If it’s late, if your boyfriend or friend is not coming, we’ll send you home in a car.
“The $8 is absolutely worth it.”
Michelle Perez, 32, a stay-at-home mom in Park Slope, said, “I carry pepper spray with me. My husband bought it for me.”
But her husband, Ramon Sarante, 30, said he didn’t stop there.
“I [also] bought it for . . . my mother and my sister,” he said. “I hear there’s a few [suspects] out there, so it gets you kind of worried. It’s very scary.”
Pepper spray is legal to carry,
Additional reporting by Chuck Bennett