CLACKAMAS, Ore. — A man accused of inappropriately touching women at a Clackamas Town Center bookstore was arrested on Wednesday.
Justin Carl Phelps, 39, of Clackamas, was booked into the Clackamas County Jail on 10 charges of harassment. His bail was set at $25,000.
The investigation began after an employee reported to Barnes & Noble management that a man inappropriately touched her.
“Someone came up behind me and brushed me across the backside,” Kerrie Barton said.
Barton works at Barnes and Noble. She was on the phone with a customer at the time and did not think much of it. Then it happened again. And again. Barton moved to another part of the store.
“I feel a brush along my backside again,” she said. “I look and this guy has followed me over to that side of the store.”
Barton felt sick to her stomach and went home. When she returned to work the next day she told her manager what happened. The two of them pulled up surveillance footage. They spotted the guy right away.
The bookstore called the sheriff’s office, who reviewed surveillance video.
The video showed the suspect wandering in the store between 5:30 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. on April 13 and touching other women in a similar, unwanted fashion, deputies said.
A person called 911 Wednesday to report seeing the suspect, now believed to be Phelps. The witness followed Phelps as he walked through the mall, providing dispatch with updates to help deputies and mall security detain him, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies believe there could be more victims. Anyone who was inappropriately touched by Phelps is asked to call the non-emergency line at 503-655-8211 and reference Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office case number 19-008639.