Bryan Fischer
Sex crimes at Target
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Host of "Focal Point" on American Family Radio, 1-3pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
As most everyone knows by now, Target is now allowing men into little girls' bathrooms and fitting rooms. The risk this poses to the sexual integrity of young girls, as well as to young women and even mature women, is off the charts.
And since Target is the second largest retailer in the nation, we are talking about potentially catastrophic consequences. Even one innocent victim of such a dangerous policy is too many since a young female can experience damage to her soul as well as her body that she must endure for the rest of her life.
Now that every sexual pervert in America knows he can enter the same restrooms and dressing rooms their intended female targets use, Target will soon be the hangout of choice for deviants from one end of the nation to the other. There is nothing to stop them from loitering around until an object of desire enters one of these rooms and then following them in.
I'm not sure Target has any realistic concept of the enormous risk of litigation they have created for themselves. They have deep pockets, and personal injury lawyers are likely already seeing dollar signs floating before their very eyes.
This concern about sex crimes inside Target stores is far from theoretical. Here are just a few examples (a more complete list can be found here):
1. Suspect Arrested in Target Sexual Assault of a 11-Year-Old Girl
A Kentucky man has been charged with the sexual assault of an 11- year-old girl at a Target store.
Surveillance camera images of the suspect leading the girl through the store have been broadcast nationally.
Allen D. Coates, 37, of Irvington, Kentucky, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in the downtown area of Louisville, where he is being held at the Metro Corrections Facility...
Allen D. Coates, 37, of Irvington, Kentucky, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in the downtown area of Louisville, where he is being held at the Metro Corrections Facility...
The girl was assaulted July 12 at knifepoint after she and her mother separated in the store to do individual shopping, authorities say.
Surveillance video from inside the store shows a man wearing a gray, sleeveless T-shirt, baseball cap and shorts roaming the aisles. Just before the sexual assault, he can be seen holding the girl's hand and leading her through the store.
Comment: Now he'll be able to loiter outside bathrooms and fitting rooms and wait for 11-year-olds shopping by themselves to answer a call of nature or try on a blouse.
2. Man arrested for store gropes to face multiple sexual assault charges, prosecutor says
A Jefferson man arrested on Friday after police said he followed and then touched a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl in separate incidents could face "multiple" child sexual assault charges, a prosecutor said in court Tuesday...
[T]he officer making the stop for speeding recognized Cooper as the suspect from video that was distributed about the incidents at Target and West Towne Mall...
[T]he girl said that a man approached her and a friend in the shoe section of the Target store, then followed them before he "purposefully" veered into the girl and brushed against her upper thigh and lower buttock area.
Comment: Now let's imagine that the perpetrator does not have to accost her in the shoe section but can follow her without any questions asked into a bathroom or a fitting room. What father in his right mind is going to allow his teenage daughter to shop at Target ever again?
3. Man with history of molesting women arrested, case may be related to St. Louis County sexual assault
On Tuesday, St. Louis City Police confirmed that they are investigating the sexual assault of a 13-year-old female inside the Target store on Hampton Avenue in south St. Louis Monday night. Police say the suspect walked past the victim, squeezed her buttocks, then walked away. The girl told a relative and police were called. St. Louis Police are not commenting on whether or not their case could be connected to the Alverson or Mehlville cases.
Comment: All this man will have to do now is wait outside a Target bathroom of fitting room until your 13-year-old daughter enters, then follow her right on in.
4. South Bend police looking for men who performed sexual act at Target department store
South Bend police are looking for a man who performed a sexual act Monday afternoon at a Target department store at 1400 E. Ireland Road, according to our news partner ABC57.
A 16-year-old girl was shopping at the department store when a man approached her from behind and performed a sexual act on himself at about 2 p.m., police said. The man got away, and police are still looking for him.
Comment: Now that men can simply follow a 16-year-old into a dressing room, commit the sexual act while the victim is putting her clothes back on, how many more of these incidents are we going to read about?
5. Police Tip Leads to Man Wanted for Touching Young Girls at Target
San Leandro police say they have a person in custody for allegedly assaulting two young girls inside two different stores on Monday night.
Police arrested the suspect, a 20-year-old parking attendant, a couple of hours later at his place of work on the Peninsula.
Investigators are convinced, he is the man shown in the store surveillance videos, first at a Walmart, then at a Target store Monday. It was in those two store where he allegedly groped two young victims within 15 minutes of each other.
"I do know that people in this, from my training and my experience,.that these people that have this desire to offend against children, will do so pretty much at all costs," said McManus.
The suspect has been arrested on two counts of felony lewd and lascivious with a child. Police say he does have a criminal record, but not for any similar offenses.
Comment: If they will offend against young girls "pretty much at all costs," the last thing they need is for Target to help them by providing private areas where the assaults can occur.
6. Suspect Accused of Sexually Assaulting Girl at Sandy Target Turns Self In
Sandy authorities have arrested the suspect accused of sexually assaulting a girl at a Target store in Sandy.
Sandy Sgt. Dean Carriger said 47-year-old James Scot Fullmer was arrested Wednesday.
He turned himself in after he learned police were looking for him.
Fullmer is booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on felony forcible sexual abuse charges.
Officials said a man approached an underage girl who was shopping with a friend Aug. 7.
Sandy officers said the suspect briefly talked to the girl and then sexually assaulted her.
7. Sexual Assault Suspect Arrested at Folsom Target Store
A jogger and Target security officers helped Folsom police track down and arrest a man wanted in connection with sexual battery and an attempted rape Saturday.
Police arrested Timothy Ortiz, 25, at the Target store on Blue Ravine Road after security officers reported he was following women in the store and masturbating.
Comment: Why would a deviant now need to follow women through the store when he can wait for them inside the women's bathroom or a fitting room where there are no cameras?
HANFORD MAN CONFESSES TO HIDING CAMERA IN TARGET STORE RESTROOM, POLICE SAY
Authorities in Hanford say a man has confessed to placing a hidden camera inside a restroom of a local Target store. The suspect was identified as Eugenio Rodriguez, 32, of Hanford.
Hanford police responded to the store on North 12th Avenue on Wednesday after an employee found the camera in the family restroom. They say the camera was concealed with toilet tissue and had a red light illuminating before the employee turned it off. Officers say the camera didn't record anything but it did stream live video...
A criminal case was sent to the DA's office charging Rodriguez with using a concealed camera to view a person's body in a private room.
Comment: You think Target has a problem with video voyeurism now? Just wait until perpetrators have unimpeded access to fitting rooms and restrooms where they can install their hidden cameras in ever more creative and hard to detect ways.
8. Anderson PD: 'Peeping Tom' took pics of people in Target bathroom
A Six Mile man accused of taking pictures and video of people using the restroom at Target has been arrested, according to Anderson police.
According to the incident report, police were called to the store on Thursday where one victim said the suspect had a cellphone positioned under the stall to capture video of men at the urinals.
Comment: Now that video voyeurs have the same unrestricted access to your daughter's restroom and fitting room, you'll be reading about more incidents just like this. It might be best to keep your daughter out of Target altogether.
9. Man Arrested for Taking Photos of Woman in Target Bathroom
Athens-Clarke County police have arrested a 26-year-old man for being a peeping Tom in the women's room at a Target.
Police say Luis Mesqueda Hernandez was caught on security cameras sneaking into the women's bathroom at the store Sunday afternoon and using his cell phone to take photos of a woman. The store's security officers detained Hernandez until police arrived.
The woman told police she did not notice Hernandez was in the bathroom.
Comment: Luis is no longer going to have to "sneak into" the women's room at Target. He can go in there anytime he wants, in front of God and everybody.
As I write these words, the number of signers of AFA's Boycott Target petition has blown past 1 million and is still climbing. This may be an all-time global land-speed record. And Target's market value has plunged $1.5 billion since April 19.
Here's hoping Target really loves their mindless, irrational, anti-science, anti-biology, and anti-genetic, war-on-women political correctness because it's costing them a bundle.
Consumers care too much about the sexual integrity of their daughters to allow Target to put them at risk, low prices or no. And shareholders are already spooked by Target's aggressive foray into the world of aiding and abetting sexual deviancy.
My guess is that, as we speak, there are "great searchings of heart" (Judges 5:16) in the upper echelons of Target management. And for little girls and shareholders it can't happen a moment too soon.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
April 29, 2016
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Host of "Focal Point" on American Family Radio, 1-3pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
As most everyone knows by now, Target is now allowing men into little girls' bathrooms and fitting rooms. The risk this poses to the sexual integrity of young girls, as well as to young women and even mature women, is off the charts.
And since Target is the second largest retailer in the nation, we are talking about potentially catastrophic consequences. Even one innocent victim of such a dangerous policy is too many since a young female can experience damage to her soul as well as her body that she must endure for the rest of her life.
Now that every sexual pervert in America knows he can enter the same restrooms and dressing rooms their intended female targets use, Target will soon be the hangout of choice for deviants from one end of the nation to the other. There is nothing to stop them from loitering around until an object of desire enters one of these rooms and then following them in.
I'm not sure Target has any realistic concept of the enormous risk of litigation they have created for themselves. They have deep pockets, and personal injury lawyers are likely already seeing dollar signs floating before their very eyes.
This concern about sex crimes inside Target stores is far from theoretical. Here are just a few examples (a more complete list can be found here):
1. Suspect Arrested in Target Sexual Assault of a 11-Year-Old Girl
A Kentucky man has been charged with the sexual assault of an 11- year-old girl at a Target store.
Surveillance camera images of the suspect leading the girl through the store have been broadcast nationally.
Allen D. Coates, 37, of Irvington, Kentucky, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in the downtown area of Louisville, where he is being held at the Metro Corrections Facility...
Allen D. Coates, 37, of Irvington, Kentucky, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in the downtown area of Louisville, where he is being held at the Metro Corrections Facility...
The girl was assaulted July 12 at knifepoint after she and her mother separated in the store to do individual shopping, authorities say.
Surveillance video from inside the store shows a man wearing a gray, sleeveless T-shirt, baseball cap and shorts roaming the aisles. Just before the sexual assault, he can be seen holding the girl's hand and leading her through the store.
Comment: Now he'll be able to loiter outside bathrooms and fitting rooms and wait for 11-year-olds shopping by themselves to answer a call of nature or try on a blouse.
2. Man arrested for store gropes to face multiple sexual assault charges, prosecutor says
A Jefferson man arrested on Friday after police said he followed and then touched a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl in separate incidents could face "multiple" child sexual assault charges, a prosecutor said in court Tuesday...
[T]he officer making the stop for speeding recognized Cooper as the suspect from video that was distributed about the incidents at Target and West Towne Mall...
[T]he girl said that a man approached her and a friend in the shoe section of the Target store, then followed them before he "purposefully" veered into the girl and brushed against her upper thigh and lower buttock area.
Comment: Now let's imagine that the perpetrator does not have to accost her in the shoe section but can follow her without any questions asked into a bathroom or a fitting room. What father in his right mind is going to allow his teenage daughter to shop at Target ever again?
3. Man with history of molesting women arrested, case may be related to St. Louis County sexual assault
On Tuesday, St. Louis City Police confirmed that they are investigating the sexual assault of a 13-year-old female inside the Target store on Hampton Avenue in south St. Louis Monday night. Police say the suspect walked past the victim, squeezed her buttocks, then walked away. The girl told a relative and police were called. St. Louis Police are not commenting on whether or not their case could be connected to the Alverson or Mehlville cases.
Comment: All this man will have to do now is wait outside a Target bathroom of fitting room until your 13-year-old daughter enters, then follow her right on in.
4. South Bend police looking for men who performed sexual act at Target department store
South Bend police are looking for a man who performed a sexual act Monday afternoon at a Target department store at 1400 E. Ireland Road, according to our news partner ABC57.
A 16-year-old girl was shopping at the department store when a man approached her from behind and performed a sexual act on himself at about 2 p.m., police said. The man got away, and police are still looking for him.
Comment: Now that men can simply follow a 16-year-old into a dressing room, commit the sexual act while the victim is putting her clothes back on, how many more of these incidents are we going to read about?
5. Police Tip Leads to Man Wanted for Touching Young Girls at Target
San Leandro police say they have a person in custody for allegedly assaulting two young girls inside two different stores on Monday night.
Police arrested the suspect, a 20-year-old parking attendant, a couple of hours later at his place of work on the Peninsula.
Investigators are convinced, he is the man shown in the store surveillance videos, first at a Walmart, then at a Target store Monday. It was in those two store where he allegedly groped two young victims within 15 minutes of each other.
"I do know that people in this, from my training and my experience,.that these people that have this desire to offend against children, will do so pretty much at all costs," said McManus.
The suspect has been arrested on two counts of felony lewd and lascivious with a child. Police say he does have a criminal record, but not for any similar offenses.
Comment: If they will offend against young girls "pretty much at all costs," the last thing they need is for Target to help them by providing private areas where the assaults can occur.
6. Suspect Accused of Sexually Assaulting Girl at Sandy Target Turns Self In
Sandy authorities have arrested the suspect accused of sexually assaulting a girl at a Target store in Sandy.
Sandy Sgt. Dean Carriger said 47-year-old James Scot Fullmer was arrested Wednesday.
He turned himself in after he learned police were looking for him.
Fullmer is booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on felony forcible sexual abuse charges.
Officials said a man approached an underage girl who was shopping with a friend Aug. 7.
Sandy officers said the suspect briefly talked to the girl and then sexually assaulted her.
7. Sexual Assault Suspect Arrested at Folsom Target Store
A jogger and Target security officers helped Folsom police track down and arrest a man wanted in connection with sexual battery and an attempted rape Saturday.
Police arrested Timothy Ortiz, 25, at the Target store on Blue Ravine Road after security officers reported he was following women in the store and masturbating.
Comment: Why would a deviant now need to follow women through the store when he can wait for them inside the women's bathroom or a fitting room where there are no cameras?
HANFORD MAN CONFESSES TO HIDING CAMERA IN TARGET STORE RESTROOM, POLICE SAY
Authorities in Hanford say a man has confessed to placing a hidden camera inside a restroom of a local Target store. The suspect was identified as Eugenio Rodriguez, 32, of Hanford.
Hanford police responded to the store on North 12th Avenue on Wednesday after an employee found the camera in the family restroom. They say the camera was concealed with toilet tissue and had a red light illuminating before the employee turned it off. Officers say the camera didn't record anything but it did stream live video...
A criminal case was sent to the DA's office charging Rodriguez with using a concealed camera to view a person's body in a private room.
Comment: You think Target has a problem with video voyeurism now? Just wait until perpetrators have unimpeded access to fitting rooms and restrooms where they can install their hidden cameras in ever more creative and hard to detect ways.
8. Anderson PD: 'Peeping Tom' took pics of people in Target bathroom
A Six Mile man accused of taking pictures and video of people using the restroom at Target has been arrested, according to Anderson police.
According to the incident report, police were called to the store on Thursday where one victim said the suspect had a cellphone positioned under the stall to capture video of men at the urinals.
Comment: Now that video voyeurs have the same unrestricted access to your daughter's restroom and fitting room, you'll be reading about more incidents just like this. It might be best to keep your daughter out of Target altogether.
9. Man Arrested for Taking Photos of Woman in Target Bathroom
Athens-Clarke County police have arrested a 26-year-old man for being a peeping Tom in the women's room at a Target.
Police say Luis Mesqueda Hernandez was caught on security cameras sneaking into the women's bathroom at the store Sunday afternoon and using his cell phone to take photos of a woman. The store's security officers detained Hernandez until police arrived.
The woman told police she did not notice Hernandez was in the bathroom.
Comment: Luis is no longer going to have to "sneak into" the women's room at Target. He can go in there anytime he wants, in front of God and everybody.
As I write these words, the number of signers of AFA's Boycott Target petition has blown past 1 million and is still climbing. This may be an all-time global land-speed record. And Target's market value has plunged $1.5 billion since April 19.
Here's hoping Target really loves their mindless, irrational, anti-science, anti-biology, and anti-genetic, war-on-women political correctness because it's costing them a bundle.
Consumers care too much about the sexual integrity of their daughters to allow Target to put them at risk, low prices or no. And shareholders are already spooked by Target's aggressive foray into the world of aiding and abetting sexual deviancy.
My guess is that, as we speak, there are "great searchings of heart" (Judges 5:16) in the upper echelons of Target management. And for little girls and shareholders it can't happen a moment too soon.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
