Man followed young girls, pleasured himself as they ate candy, prosecutors say
Pierce County prosecutors say a 23-year-old man on probation for two indecent exposure incidents followed two girls while pleasuring himself outside a Tacoma-area gas station late last month.
Nathaniel Allen was arraigned Thursday on one count of indecent exposure to victims under age 14 in Pierce County Superior Court and ordered held without bail.
According to charging documents:
Two girls, ages 13 and 11, went to a gas station in the 10400 block of Sales Road in unincorporated Pierce County to get some candy about 7 p.m. July 25 when they noticed a strange man following them without saying anything.
After they got their snacks, they crossed the street to sit down and eat.
About 20 feet away, the man stared at them and pleasured himself.
The girls ran inside the house and their families called 911.
The responding Pierce County sheriff’s deputy went to the gas station and got a detailed description of the man, in his early 20s, about 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds.
A sheriff’s detective came back to the store a couple days later to get the surveillance footage from the incident, only to notice a man matching that description sitting outside.
The detective followed the man to his apartment complex, where he asked the manager what the man’s name was, which the manager said was “Nathan.”
The manager said he’d gotten numerous complaints from residents that the man was staring into people’s windows and following young girls around the property.
The detective discerned that it was Allen, who had been released from jail on his most recent indecent exposure charge three months ago.
The detective then met with the 13-year-old girl, who started crying as she described the incident. The girl was able to identify Allen from a photo lineup, and the store’s surveillance footage showed Allen watching the girls go inside the store, then waiting for them outside until they left again.
Allen was arrested at his probation officer’s office. He said he never saw the girls at the gas station, and that he’d urinated in the bushes behind the building once but would have been concealed while doing so.
Kenny Ocker: 253-597-8627, @KennyOcker
This story was originally published August 3, 2017 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Man followed young girls, pleasured himself as they ate candy, prosecutors say."