Girl Assaulted In Busy Store

Authorities are poring over a grainy store surveillance tape that shows a man accused of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in a busy discount store.

Police have even turned to NASA for help in generating clues about the man's identity.

Portions of Saturday's alleged assault were captured by a video camera at a Target store in suburban Charleston, W.Va. The tape showed the suspect, who posed as a security guard, talking to a young girl and then walking quickly down an aisle in another department, leading the child by her wrist.

"The little girl was shopping in the video/CD section of the store, and the subject approached her and ... told the girl that she needed to come with him to speak to her about a possible shoplifting," South Charleston Police Sgt. Robert Yeager said on CBS News' Early Show. "From that point, he led her to a secluded area of the store, where he began to assault this young girl."

Police have asked NASA to enhance the video of the man and were checking video surveillance from stores in the Charleston area to see if the man appears elsewhere.

Yeager describes the suspect as "about 5-feet-9-inches to 5-feet-10-inches, approximately 200 pounds, white male with sandy-colored hair. Sort of a muscular build with somewhat of a belly on him."

The assault started in the garden department, then continued in the men's clothing department, while her mother shopped in another area of the store.

"He originally took her to one area of the store," Yeager told Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "And for whatever reason, then took her by the arm and led her to another area, where I guess he felt more comfortable."

Police also have been talking with investigators probing a similar incident Friday at a Wal-Mart in Ashland, Ky., Detective J.D. Gray said. Authorities are uncertain if the cases are linked.

In the Kentucky incident, a 9-year-old girl who had wandered away from her mother was approached by a man who identified himself as a security guard. The man patted the girl down, and she became suspicious and ran to her mother.

In the West Virginia case, more than 100 tips have come in since the video's release Saturday night, Yeager said, although none has produced a lead. "We know this is our guy," Yeager said. "We've just got to put a name with the face. If we knew any more about him, we'd have him."

Yeager said the incident appeared to be isolated, but the man showed tendencies of being a prior offender. "We don't have any reason to believe he's done it around here, but he has done it before," he said.

The victim "appears to be doing fine," said Yeager. "Her family's got her into some counseling."