Police in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, search for man who indecently assaulted 12-year-old girl in store

Police in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, released surveillance video of a suspect accused of inappropriately touching a 12-year-old girl inside a Dollar Tree store Monday afternoon.

The incident happened at the Dollar Tree at Chester Pike and Summit Avenue in Prospect Park.

"The juvenile reported that someone passed her in the aisle and brushed up against her backside, and a short time later, he returned down the same aisle, and [she] felt a hand on her backside and [he] squeezed her backside," said Sgt. Henry O'Neill with the Prospect Park Police Department.  

Police said the girl was shopping with her younger sister. After the alleged assault, she immediately took her sister into the store's bathroom, locked the door and called her father. By the time officers arrived, the suspect had left.

"I'm sure it took a heavy toll on her as a 12-year-old," O'Neill said. "I can only imagine the trauma or the thought process she was going through. But she did have the wherewithal to protect her younger sister in case something escalated from there."

Detectives are trying to track the suspect down before this happens to another person.

On Thursday, police released more photos showing the suspect headed to a nearby McDonald's on Chester Pike after leaving the Dollar Tree. The suspect then emerged from the restroom wearing a different outfit and a hat. 

The suspect then headed west on Chester Pike toward Ridley Park.

"There's no excuse," O'Neill said. "I feel that that type of behavior is unacceptable anywhere to do to anybody at any age, let alone a child."

In 2024, a man at a South Philadelphia Dollar Tree store was charged with indecent assault, indecent exposure, open lewdness and harassment after he allegedly ejaculated on a woman.