Police in Prince William County, Virginia, say they have identified and arrested the suspect they say sexually assaulted an employee of Food Lion grocery store on Friday.
On Friday evening, police had released a photo of the suspect, and he was later identified him as 31-year-old Michael Earl Alexander of Woodbridge, Va.
Alexander was taken into custody without incident on Saturday and charged with sexual battery, indecent exposure and obscene sexual display. He is currently being held without bond, according to police.
*UPDATE: #PWCPD have identified the suspect sought in connection to the sexual assault that occurred at a business on Hoadly Rd in #Manassas on June 24. A #community tip ultimately identified the suspect as a 31-year-old man of Woodbridge who is now in police custody. More info; https://t.co/lvnaquYwA4 pic.twitter.com/gDep95pmrn
— Prince William County Police Department (@PWCPolice) June 25, 2022
The incident occurred at the Food Lion at 6306 Hoadly Rd in Manassas, when the suspect began following a 58-year-old female employee around the store just before 9 a.m., police said in an earlier news release on Friday.
The employee told police she was stocking aisles when the man approached her from behind.
Video surveillance shows that the suspect exposed himself and left an unknown bodily fluid on the worker’s pants.
The video also shows the suspect watching the same employee from other aisles multiple times and, at one point, approaching her from behind while exposing himself and making obscene motions.
The employee wasn’t physically injured in the incident.
According to police, the man had previous “brief encounters” with female employees at that Food Lion before the assault.
The suspect left the store before police arrived on the scene.
The man is described as 30 to 35 years old, 6 feet tall and thin. He left the store in a dark-colored four door sedan with a missing rim on the rear passenger tire.
