KOMO News
SEATTLE — A man suspected of exposing himself to a Seattle woman and trying to steal her cellphone last month is now behind bars in Clallam County, police said.
The suspect was identified after Seattle police investigators released a surveillance photo and video of the man that was posted by local media outlets.
The suspect was not named.
An alert Clallam County sheriff’s deputy spotted the photo and realized the man had been booked into jail there earlier in the week on an unrelated charge. He contacted Seattle police Thursday and let them know, said spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee.
Police had been looking for the suspect ever since an incident in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood last month.
A 64-year-old woman was walking her dogs in the 1100 block of Boren Avenue when she noticed a man with his pants down “performing a lewd act,” police said.
The woman pulled out her phone to dial 9-1-1, but the man ran up to her and tried to steal the phone.
The phone was tethered by a shoulder strap, and the man ended up dragging the woman about 20 feet down the street before he let go and ran off, police said.
Detectives later learned their suspect went into a nearby hospital, where he was briefly captured on a surveillance camera. It was footage from that camera that caught the attention of the Clallam County deputy.
Seattle detectives are now working with Clallam County to return the suspect to King County Jail to face possible charges in Seattle.
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KOMO News is a news partner of the Peninsula Daily News.
