A 28-year-old man is facing two counts of sexual battery after Tulsa police say he groped two women inside a midtown Dollar Tree, then tried to walk away from officers before being hit with a Taser. The arrest stemmed from an assault call that brought officers to the store near East 45th Street South and South Peoria Avenue around 1 p.m.
According to KTUL, witnesses told police the man walked down the store's aisles and assaulted two women as he passed them. One woman reported that he groped her from behind, while another said he put his hand between her legs, the station reported.
Officers who responded found the man behind the store and ordered him to approach them, per the same account, but he refused and kept walking away. After repeated warnings, officers deployed a Taser and took him into custody. He was booked into the Tulsa County Jail on two counts of sexual battery, the station reported.
A Pattern Playing Out at Discount Stores Nationwide
The Tulsa case echoes a string of similar reports at Dollar Tree locations across the country. A lawsuit cited by NewsNation alleges that at least 11 women nationwide have reported similar sexual assaults inside Dollar Tree stores since 2024.
One of those complaints came from a San Diego woman identified as Jane Doe, who filed a civil lawsuit after an alleged March 2, 2025, incident at a Dollar Tree there, according to NewsNation. A related account from NBC 7 San Diego states that, over about a week starting March 1, 2025, the same man allegedly sexually assaulted three different women at a Dollar Tree in Clairemont. San Diego police arrested Noe Gonzales Cresencio, 22, on two counts each of lewd and lascivious acts and sexual battery, NewsNation reported.
Tulsa Has Seen Similar Reports Before
This is not the first time Tulsa police have investigated an alleged groping incident at a discount retailer. In an earlier case, KTUL reported that police were seeking to identify a man accused of assaulting a woman inside a Dollar General near 5800 W. 41st Street on May 10, with investigators saying he grabbed the woman's left butt cheek as she walked past and said, “Happy Birthday.”
No details on the exact date of the midtown Dollar Tree incident, the identities of the women involved, or the case's court status have been released. The evidence reviewed does not establish what comes next for the man booked into the Tulsa County Jail.
