Kelowna Mounties are still looking for the man who creeped into the YM/YWCA in Rutland earlier this week, and forced a local child to watch as he fondled himself.
“We’re hoping the public can come forward and provide more information,” said Const. Kris Clark.
“We’ve been searching the surveillance video, and a ton of work has been, and will continue to be, done on that file.”
Police say eight-year-old girl wasn’t interfered with Monday night when she was leaving a swimming lesson, but the circumstances she faced were menacing.
She was lured into the family change room where the man exposed and fondled himself in front of her.
“The girl escaped without physical harm and the man fled the scene attempting to concealing his identity,” said Clark.
His insight on how to hide himself from cameras placed around the facility, and apparent knowledge of entrances that would allow him to pass unnoticed, has caused some to speculate that he has ties to the Y.
It’s a theory its CEO Sharon Peterson doesn’t believe to be likely, although they’re diligently doing their own investigation alongside the RCMP.
“We go through a stringent hiring practice, with criminal record checks and behavioural interviews,” she explained.
And, she said, it’s not as though the cameras that are in the facility are hidden. They’re very visible.
That said, some things have changed in the wake of the intrusion.
“We already have comprehensive polices in place, like regular and random sweeps, but this person was able to hide his face from the cameras,” she said.
The man, she explained, had come in through a staff entrance, but had he come through the front he wouldn’t have been able to hide from camera view without alerting employees with his suspicious behaviour.
Now all doors, other than the front, will be locked.
They’re also trying to have anyone who goes to the Y regularly, look at the picture and video of the man, so they can see if they’ll be able to recognize them.
The man appears to be over 40, Caucasian with tanned skin, fit and about five-foot-seven. He was wearing a dark ball cap with a WestJet logo, a green T-shirt with the word High on the back, beige shorts, and light running shoes.
