San Leandro Police Seeking Help Identifying Man Who is Suspected of Inappropriately Touching Young Girls

Information, photo submitted by San Leandro Police Nixle Alerts:

The San Leandro Police are seeking the public’s help in identifying a suspect who inappropriately touched two young girls on Monday night inside San Leandro Target and Walmart stores.

At 7:45pm, two young girls were in the Walmart store located 15555 Hesperian Blvd., when they noticed that a male suspect following them from one department in the store to another. The man approached the two children and inappropriately touched the older sibling. She screamed, scaring the suspect away. The suspect quickly left the store. They reported this to their mother, who was in a nearby aisle, who in turn told store security, who notified the police.

At 8:00pm, officers were dispatched to the Target Store at Bayfair Center to investigate another assault committed by the same suspect. Another young girl, with her mother nearby, was approached by the suspect, who inappropriately touched her. She told her mother, who attempted to confront the suspect as he was walking away. Like the incident at Walmart, he quickly fled the store. The mother reported this assault to uniformed store security personnel, who called police.

Arriving officers at both stores met with the victims and their families. Officers were able to obtain store security video of the incidents from both stores.

The attached pictures of the suspect were captured by Target security video as he fled the store. It is believed that the suspect left Walmart in a vehicle and drove directly to the Target store at Bayfair Center. Detectives are checking security video of the parking lots of both stores, hoping to gain information about the suspect’s vehicle.

Witnesses report that the suspect is further described as being between 25 and 40 years old and approximately 6’ – 6’03” tall, with a medium build. He has brown hair and light brown eyebrows. He is clean shaven, as shown in the photo and was wearing a black, long-sleeved dress shirt, red tie, black slacks and black dress shoes at the time of these incidents.

“Crimes like this committed against children need to be solved quickly. I am asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the man shown in the surveillance photo so that we can prevent this from happening again to another child,” said Lt. Robert McManus. “Although these crimes occurred in San Leandro, this suspect could be in any Bay Area store or city,” he said.

Police believe that because the suspect is dressed in business attire, wearing a tie, he may be employed in some type of retail business where he has contact with customers, such as a restaurant, hotel, or sales position.

Detectives are contacting other Bay Area law enforcement agencies to see if they have any similar cases or information that may assist in their investigation.

Anyone with information regarding the identity of the suspect is urged to contact the San Leandro Police Department at (510) 577-2740, or submit information anonymously by calling or texting their information to one of the numbers below:

• Phone: Anonymous Crime Tips at (510) 577-3278
• Text Message: Text “TipSLPolice” to 888777