NILES Victims worry about security

One woman encountered the man twice in the same day.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Women who were splashed with semen while shopping at area shopping centers say their sense of security has been shattered.
"It's not something you expect to happen," said one victim, 28, of Painesville.
Three victims who spoke to The Vindicator requested that their names not be used.
The Painesville woman told police she was shopping in the card aisle at the Target store the afternoon of Nov. 16 when a man emitting a foul odor passed her several times. She then felt something wet on the back of her upper thigh.
Employees at the store gave her a pair of pants to change into and rubbing alcohol to wipe off her leg. She gave her pants to police to be tested, and they told her it may be semen.
"Then I came home and scrubbed it raw," she said.
The Painesville woman said she spoke to another woman, a 41-year-old Warren woman, who was hit the same day, also at Target.
"We were in disbelief," she said. "We couldn't really believe it happened."
The man, whom police identified through store security video, consented to blood tests, which were done last week. Police are awaiting the results.
Charges: If he is found to have a disease such as HIV or hepatitis, he could be charged with a felony. Otherwise, he'll likely be charged with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, police have said.
They believe he threw the fluid, kept in a spray bottle or 35 mm film canisters, on at least six women between Aug. 4 and last month at the Eastwood Mall Complex and Home Depot and Super Kmart in Howland.
The experience has shaken her sense of security, said the 41-year-old Warren woman.
"It's a small town -- a quiet, relaxing town," she said. "This is the only problem we've had."
She said she often shops with her children, allowing them to venture on their own to the toy department. The ordeal makes her question whether that's safe.
She didn't see the man throw the fluid, but felt something wet on her leg and detected a stench but continued walking until store employees approached her and alerted her of the problem.
"The Target people were very nice," she said.
Another location: A 20-year-old Warren woman who works at a store in the mall arrived at the mall around 5 p.m. Nov. 9 to pick up her paycheck before her shift.
She was walking through the concourse near Arby's when she felt something wet hit her upper chest, above her V-neck blouse.
"I was thinking, 'Am I imagining things?' I thought it was water from kids playing," she said. "It was a Friday night and the mall was packed."
She said she saw a man walk past her, carrying shopping bags in his left hand.
"But his right hand was cupped over something," she said. "Then I started to smell something atrocious."
She went into the store where she works, told her manager that something hit her and then she washed it off. She picked up her check and left the mall to get to the bank before her shift started.
She returned a short time later, walking through the same concourse on her way to work, and saw the same man.
"In the exact same spot, he did it to me again," she said.
This time she was hit on the upper chest and neck, and the fluid got on her coat. She turned and confronted him and he ran out of the mall, she said.
She started crying and called her mother. A security guard walked with her through the mall, looking for the man. They didn't find him. She went home and changed clothes before returning to work.
Her worry: The 20-year-old isn't as worried about health concerns as she is about security.
"When I go into the mall, I'm nervous now," she said. "I go to work there five days a week, walking through there. I guess I just have my third eye open."
dick@vindy.com