Detectives in Prospect Park, Pennsylvania are searching for a man accused of indecently assaulting a 12-year-old girl inside a Dollar Tree store while she shopped with her younger sister. Police say the man brushed against and then squeezed the girl's backside before returning down the same aisle, prompting her to grab her younger sister and lock the two of them inside the store's bathroom. The girl called her father from behind the locked door, and the suspect had already left the store by the time officers arrived.
The assault happened at the Dollar Tree located at Chester Pike and Summit Avenue in Prospect Park, according to CBS Philadelphia, which first reported the case Wednesday. Delaware County police have since released surveillance video of the suspect in hopes that someone can identify him. Prospect Park Police Sergeant Henry O'Neill said the encounter may have caused trauma to the girl, and detectives are working to track the man down before he can target anyone else.
Older Sister Shielded Her Younger Sibling
The 12-year-old kept her younger sister close and ushered her into the bathroom, positioning herself to protect the girl in case the situation escalated further, per the account relayed to investigators. O'Neill described the alleged behavior as unacceptable, language that reflects how seriously local detectives are treating a case involving a child even without a physical injury reported.
A Six-Officer Force Leans on a K-9 Unit
Leading the search is Prospect Park Police Chief David Madonna, whose department fields one sergeant, six full-time officers, five part-time officers, a bike unit, and a K-9 bloodhound unit out of its headquarters on Maryland Avenue, according to Prospect Park Borough. The borough covers just 0.74 square miles along the Chester Pike corridor, about 12 miles south of Philadelphia, and is home to roughly 6,400 residents, per the U.S. Census Bureau. That small footprint means investigators are leaning on regional tools to widen the search beyond their own borders.
Countywide Tip Network Spans 49 Towns
Tips are expected to flow through CRIMEWATCH PA, the countywide network Delaware County agencies use to post alerts, share surveillance footage, and collect anonymous leads across the county's 49 municipalities. Prospect Park borders Norwood, Ridley Park, and Glenolden, and Delaware County's 184 square miles of fragmented boroughs often require departments to coordinate across town lines during active searches, according to the County of Delaware.
Video Once Helped Solve a Nearly Identical South Philly Case
A similar scenario played out in July 2024, when Philadelphia police investigated an indecent assault at a Dollar Tree on East Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia. That case ended with the arrest of 35-year-old Gary A. Miles after officers released public surveillance footage, according to FOX 29 Philadelphia. Prospect Park detectives say they are hoping the same approach helps them identify the man before a similar incident happens to someone else.
What Pennsylvania Law Says About the Potential Charges
Under Pennsylvania law, indecent assault involving a victim younger than 13 carries enhanced statutory penalties compared with basic non-consensual indecent contact, per state criminal statute 18 Pa.C.S. § 3126. That means whoever is eventually identified in the Prospect Park case could face more serious charges than an assault involving an adult victim, once he is located and formally charged.
A Rare Case for a Borough With Little Violent Crime
Violent offenses account for only about 7% of arrests in Prospect Park, with low-level property and misdemeanor cases making up roughly 80% of local police interactions, according to Police Scorecard. Dollar Tree, headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, operates more than 16,000 stores across 48 states and reached a nationwide safety agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor in 2023 to upgrade store safety protocols, per CBS News. Anyone who recognizes the man in the surveillance footage is asked to contact Prospect Park detectives.
