ST. PETERSBURG -- Police are searching for a man they said walked into the woman's bathroom of a local Walgreens on Monday and held three young sisters against their will, at one point pushing one girl and asking all three to take off their pants.
The incident, which police describe as "false imprisonment with sexual overtones," took place on Monday around 8:45 p.m. within the Walgreens located at 3700 34th Street N. Surveillance video can be seen here. (In the bottom right corner of the screen, three girls can be seen walking into the store. Seconds later, a man follows them inside. That same man walks out from the store, trailed by three girls darting toward the exit.)
Police said in a statement the three girls - ages 10, 11 and 12 - went into the bathroom, the oldest into a single stall, while two others shared a handicapped stall.
The 12-year-old had been washing her hands when she was met by the man, who "aggressively pushed her, his hand to her shoulder, towards the back of the bathroom." When the younger two sisters noticed their sister being pushed, police said, the man asked all three to take off their pants.
The girls "refused to remove any clothing and began to cry," police said. The man then told the girls to get into a stall and count to 100 before leaving.
"He told them not to tell anyone what had happened," said Detective Don McKinniss.
McKinniss said the girls waited until they heard an alarm indicating the man man had left the bathroom, then ran outside to tell their parents. The parents called police from inside the store, McKinniss said.
A witness told police the man ran from the store into his truck, where he waited for his passenger who had been inside the store, then left the parking lot.
The father of the three girls had been inside the store, police said. Their mother had been waiting outside in a van.
Investigators are asking for help in identifying the man, described as a white male in his 20s, about 6 feet tall and weighing around 160 pounds. He has short blond, reddish hair and a blue or green tattoo on his neck.
He was last seen driving a shiny red or burgundy pick-up truck with an attached black tool box and a electrical generator sitting in the bed, police said in a statement.
Anyone with information is asked to call St. Petersburg Police at (727) 893-7780.
-- Casey Cora, Times staff writer
[Police sketch courtesy of St. Petersburg Police] Click to enlarge.
