Man accused of taking pictures of young girl in Michaels store bathroom in Southfield
A man accused of taking pictures of a young girl using the bathroom at a Michaels store in Southfield, Michigan, has been arrested.
Southfield police held a press conference on Tuesday, releasing body cam video of when 45-year-old Dale Frye was taken into custody on Monday at his Detroit home.
"We made that nine-year-old a commitment that we were going to find the person responsible for taking those images," said Southfield Police Chief Elvin Barren.
Police say on Oct. 22, Frye allegedly took photos of the 9-year-old girl while she was in the bathroom stall of the Michaels store on Telegraph Road. Police used facial recognition to identify a person of interest from surveillance video, which then led them to Frye.
A search warrant of his home uncovered nine phones and two laptops that were forensically analyzed by the U.S. Secret Service.
"We were able to take the suspect's phone and determine through phone pinging as a third identification that this person was at Michaels," Barren said.
The young girl and her mother were present at the press conference and received an award for their courage. The mother, who didn't want to appear on camera, said learning about Frye's arrest "means the world to me."
"My daughter, she's a very resilient, strong girl, and honestly, some days, she was both of our strength," the mother said.
"Very scary. Because, you know, you never, you always think that you're doing all that you can to protect your kids, and just something so out of the ordinary, so unplanned happens," the victim's mother said.
The young girl, dubbed a 9-year-old "princess" by the police chief, expresses her relief, saying, "I feel happy that they caught him."
The child's mother says now they can look forward to the holidays.
Frye is charged with one count each of capturing/distributing an image of an unclothed person and using a computer to commit a crime. His bond was set at $30,000 cash surety.
His next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 8.