DES PERES, Mo — Des Peres Police say they are investigating after a man targeted a 16-year-old girl at West County Center by taking pictures of her skirt with his phone.
Police provided FOX 2 with a picture of the suspect, captured by one of the malls’ security cameras.
The incident happened on Monday, February 12th. Kelly, the teen’s mother, said she’d picked her daughter up from her Catholic school and taken her to the mall that day to shop.
Around 4 p.m., they were taking an escalator down to the first floor of the mall. She noticed a man in his 40s following them.
“I noticed somebody was standing awfully close to us,” Kelly explained. “I kind of turned around, and I looked, and there was a gentleman standing there… we were about to get off the escalator, with about four or five steps left. And he bent down. So, I turned around, and I noticed he had his phone face-down on the escalator step, like he was recording something,” she said.
The man immediately left the mall. Des Peres police said surveillance footage showed he’d been at the mall for 3–4 hours without buying any items.
Police also said they have not been able to identify the suspect so far through facial recognition and were not able to capture his license plate.
Kelly said she was in shock. She noticed he had dozens of pictures, like the one of her daughter, on his phone. She wishes she had followed the man and captured his plates, but she said she was also concerned for her daughter’s safety.
She said she contacted FOX 2 because she doesn’t want this man targeting anyone else’s daughter.
“There were many other groups of girls there. And I’m thinking, ‘I wonder how many other girls he recorded that don’t know,” Kelly said.
Kelly has a message for the suspect.
“You’re a very sick individual. You violated my daughter and other young girls. It’s very unfortunate,” she said.
Anyone who thinks they may know the suspect pictured in this story is asked to call Des Peres Police right away at 314-835-6200.
Des Peres Police Chief Eric Hall also provided the following statement to FOX 2:
“We did take a report from a parent on February 12, 2024, regarding this incident. Our officers reviewed the video and confirmed that the incident occurred; however, we could not locate a vehicle and identify the person of interest, including searching through photo or facial recognition. Our detectives are continuing the investigation, including sharing the photo among detectives and now we have advanced facial recognition programs with our law enforcement partners.”
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