hey everybody all set good afternoon i'm pinellas county sheriff bob waltery and um since march 24th there have been three separate incidents on alderman road east of u.s 19 in palm harbor where an unknown male suspect has stalked and then touched a female all with sexual overtones the most recent attack occurred on this past friday involving a 12 year old girl and what i'm going to do is run through the various incidents with you and then tell you where we are the first incident occurred on march 24th which is a tuesday where a 16 year old female who attends palm harbor university high school was out jogging she lives in the cobs landing area off of alderman road and she was jogging in the area originally of carwise middle school which is right there at bentley drive in alderman road she jogs three to four times a week and she usually uses the same route every time she jogs while she was out on that day she saw a white male riding a black bmx bicycle and he caught her attention because he appeared to be staring at her as she was jogging she lost sight of him for a minute and then saw him again standing next to his bicycle at shoreline drive in alderman which is just north north of carwise middle school he then rode past her and was out of sight the next thing to happen was at the intersection of aldermen and cinnamon hill boulevard which is just to the east of u.s 19. the suspect rode up behind the 16 year old girl as she was jogging and grabbed her left breast and as he was holding on to her breasts for several seconds he lost his balance and fell to the ground after he fell he got up and got on his bike and rode off the next incident happened on saturday april 4th and there was a 41 year old female who was out jogging and she was westbound on alderman road near cinnamon hill boulevard as she went past a row of bushes this same suspect jumped out of the bushes and grabbed her running shorts and tried to pull them down the victim struck out with her hands and attempted to kick the suspect causing him to fall to the ground loses balance he fell to the ground he then ran eastbound on alderman road the victim recalled after the incident occurred that she had just seen him several minutes before riding this black bmx bicycle on alderman road on sunday april 12th the victim from the first incident on march 24th was again out for a run and she saw the suspect as he was leaving the bentley at cobb's landing apartment complex which is on bentley drive right across the street from carwise middle school she doesn't believe that the suspect saw her but she clearly saw him and he was riding his bmx bicycle and he went eastbound towards alderman road and she lost sight of him at that point unfortunately for whatever the reason is she did not call us and didn't let us know about that until well after she had seen him on that day on this past friday the situation changed i think pretty significantly from my perspective because he has now taken his actions toward a 12-year-old girl and what happened on this past friday at about 4 10 p.m and carwise middle school gets out at four o'clock and the kids who walk in the walking distance is about a two mile radius from the school and this girl 12 years old got out she was walking home and as she was walking again near the intersection of aldermen and cinnamon hill boulevard she saw the suspect riding his black bmx bicycle he was riding back and forth past her and caught her attention he then came up and approached her and he lifted up her skirt of this 12 year old and grabbed her buttocks the girl was startled of course afraid scared and she ran and he left the area so this is the again the third incident now the most recent one this past friday and of most concern is it now involves a 12 year old the suspect is described as a white male age range is somewhere between 18 and 30 years old five seven hundred and seventy pounds during the first two incidents and during the april 12 sighting at the apartment complex he had longer shaggy as its described collar-length hair in friday's incident his hair was now much shorter and it appeared to me appeared to be more blonde than brown as you can see up here we have composites of the suspect but please note that these are composites these are not photographs and they are based upon the the victims best information that they can give us as far as what this suspect looks like the commonality between the victims is that they are all petite females with brown hair and all at the time of the incidents were wearing their hair in ponytails while their age range varies from 12 to 41 their physical description is the same during the first two incidents on in the april 12 sighting the suspect was wearing black long pants a black shirt and black sneakers on friday at the time of that incident he was wearing a white t-shirt and black basketball shorts so friday's incident is a little bit different from what he was wearing but in all the incidents he was on a black bmx bicycle again we have a photograph of one up here and based upon the victims descriptions and the victims viewing this they say that is the the type of bicycle that he is riding we believe that the suspect likely lives in the area and that someone knows him you know when we make decisions about putting this information out it's not done lightly it is done trying to balance not causing alarm in the area but at the same time informing the public so that they can be cautious and they especially in this case is that parents can make the right decisions as far as their kids as far as transportation to and from school up until this point the investigation and the investigative techniques that we have used have been using undercover law enforcement personnel and we've had undercover law enforcement personnel conducting surveillances literally hundreds of hours in that area since the first incident occurred but again this incident changed and the comple the the complexion of this incident changed on friday for me when he now attacked this 12-year-old we've also had in addition to surveillances we've also used undercover female deputies covered by and monitored by other law enforcement personnel jogging in the area trying to draw him out using the same patterns and routes that the victims use but again all that was unsuccessful and things changed on friday so i believe now given the fact that he has targeted a 12 year old who was walking home from school that it is proper and is necessary through the media's help and other means to notify the residents that are especially the parents so they can make good decisions about their children's transportation we've conducted many neighborhood campuses we've been in contact with the management at the bentley cobbs landing apartment complex and other businesses in the area again so far to no avail and identifying who this is again i believe he probably lives in the area and hopefully with this composite sketch and the description of the bicycle someone knows him we're asking that anybody that may have any information as to who the suspect is call detective diana bergman at 582-5713 or the main number for the sheriff's office of 582-6200 and i've been in contact over the weekend and today with dr mike grego the superintendent of schools and with chief rick stelliges from the pinellas county schools police department who's here with me and i also want the public to know that the sheriff's office and the school's police department and the superintendent's office are working very collaboratively in this and we're taking great steps to ensure that the kids who are walking to and from school from carwise and all the kids in that area will be safe we have stepped up very significantly the patrols and every day in the morning and especially in the afternoon all of these incidents have occurred in the afternoon that you'll see a very very heightened law enforcement and uniform law enforcement presence during the time in the afternoon when these kids get out of school and that they're walking home our number one concern is that the kids are safe and that they can walk to and from school safely and we are using all the resources available to us and the school's police department to ensure that happens and we're committed to it i'll also be sending out this afternoon a call to the the residents of the area informing them of this because i think we're obligated to do that at this point again it's a balance between not causing alarm but he does seem to be escalating and especially of concern to me now again is the fact that he's targeting a young 12 year old i believe that dr grego is going to have the principal also send out phone calls to all of the parents of the kids who attend carwise so that they know about this incident incidents and can again make the best decisions for their kids but people should know that all the resources the sheriff's office has are being committed to trying to identify who this person is will be going more overt now and putting up flyers and contacting businesses and changing the way we're conducting this investigation and asking for the public's help in identifying this person he he lives in the area it's somebody that somebody knows and we need to get him off the street we certainly don't want to have anybody hurt because of what he's doing so i'm happy to answer any questions i know chief stelliges is here from the school's police department and uh happy to answer any questions it's only one time and that was on april 12th that he was seen coming out of the apartment complex and of course you know we've been in touch with the management and done canvases within the apartment complex and best we can tell you know he doesn't we don't know whether he lives in there or not so it's only that one time on april 12th that you've seen coming out of the apartment complex the the common denominator to this is that area around carlise middle school around bentley drive and again the first girl when she first saw him was by carwise middle school on the 12th she sees him again coming out of the apartment complex and so it's in that area that he keeps frequenting in his scene is around car wise and of course on friday's incident that little 12 year old is that she was coming home from car wise so it's definitely in that area of bentley drive north up to alderman and uh by that church that's on alderman it's saint luke's is the church up there which is at cinnamon hill boulevard roughly in alderman road so everything it seems right now it seems to be contained within that area what would he be charged with i mean obviously well at a minimum for friday's incident it'd be a second degree felony for lewd lascivious behavior of a child under 16 and we're looking at other charges and depends upon perhaps attempted sexual battery a variety of felony charges we're looking at but as you said the guy's a creep and we need to get him off the street and you know my biggest concern right now is we get him in custody and we'll place the appropriate charges but you know he on the young girl the 16 year old you know when he grabs her breast and the other woman who he's trying to pull her pants down and now he's walking up to a 12 year old lifting her skirt up and grabbing her on on the butt it's it's not going in the right direction so but at a minimum at a minimum would be some felony charges along the lines of wood and lascivious in the presence of a child under 16. is there any discussion yeah he doesn't on friday he he laughed a little bit as he grabbed her and but no discussion no anything it's just uh you know he comes up and does what he does he's stalking him you know and he's watching them and you know the couple of the victims their attention was drawn to him and he you know he's got to know that they're concerned by the way they're looking at him as well so uh but no no discussion no conversation no you know anything it's just he does what he does and then and then leaves um you know we had the first one it was kind of you know with the 16 year old because he again he grabbed her breast she fell to the ground he gets up on the bike and rides off you know you just you kind of wonder but now again with where we are and uh just going up to that 12 year old lifting her skirt up that's that's a problem that is correct we've actually sent out a school messenger phone message to all the parents asking them to review the processes that they use to send their kids to school and went and on their way home so you know in pairs try to you know drop them off re-look at their plans for the safety at this of an time response a guy who's just you know hasn't done anything super huge but i mean this is getting this before it's it's escalated before it goes any further yeah absolutely you know and and that's why we're doing it and you had to make a decision to kind of change uh the direction of the investigation shift gears with it but when it went to a 12 year old and he's willing to approach a 12 year old lift her skirt up and grab her on the rear end it's time to let people know about it because they need to be able to make what they feel are the best decisions for their kids like you said we're going to step up and we're going to have such an increased law enforcement presence in that area but i think it's right i feel that it's the right thing for parents to know what's going on so that they can make the decision so you know it's a judgment call i don't want to cause you know undue alarm to people but i think people really need to know about this and that's why for the first couple we handled a little bit differently and we're trying to do it more covertly and with surveillance and trying to identify them that way but it's a game changer now and the worst thing that could happen i think is is that um people aren't informed they aren't able to make the decision and god forbid something happens and um they should know about it so i don't wanna i don't want that to occur it does it does but i don't care at this point because i think there's enough people out there that know with this description and the composite and the bike that they'll come forward and obviously i want to get this guy in custody obviously i want and to see charges that can be sustained and prosecutable against them but that the number one concern that i have is for the safety of the kids and so if it means and that's one of the reasons why we handled it differently in the early stages what we thought would be do it in a reasonable way and a safe way but would allow us to identify who this person was it probably will make it harder in some respects we're not going to be able to do it through undercover activity and now that this is out it probably will cause him to recoil some but that's okay but that's why we need the public's help and this is where the public can step up and step in and help us to identify him so that was definitely a thought and a consideration but i think that the need for protecting the kids override set this morning this morning and you go out there this afternoon and you'll see a lot of cops out there that say i know a lot of cops out there this afternoon we want people to feel safe you know chief did you want to add anything actually i think the sheriff said it best i mean the issue of the danger to uh another young lady out there is just not something that we could to let go so i think getting it out i'm hoping that with the composites and so forth that one of the students one of the parents somebody out there in our public today is going to look at this and say hey that might be so and so we'll come forward and and there we can get him off the street all right thanks everybody appreciate it