MEDFORD, Ore. – A local mother and daughter shopping at a local Walmart said a man was taking pictures up the daughter’s skirt. Police said the suspect is in custody after the girl’s father ended up chasing the perpetrator and got photos of him and his car.
You never think it’ll happen to you until you see someone follow you at the grocery store. But that was a reality for one local family.
“She called me. She was panicking and scared,” said Jonathan Velez, who was on the phone with his wife and 17-year old daughter.
The family told NBC5 News they were doing their usual grocery shopping at the South Medford Walmart earlier this month. Velez’s wife noticed a man taking pictures of her and her daughter.
“She said just get here quick,” said Velez.
When Velez got there he said it became obvious to him what was going on.
“Sure enough he went straight towards them and he had his hand down and filming underneath my daughter’s skirt,” said Velez.
Immediately, Velez said he tried to protect his family and he wanted to get the suspect’s phone.
“I didn’t want those inappropriate images of my family, my wife, and my daughter on the internet,” said Velez.
He said the man made a run for it and escaped, but not before Velez said he got photos of him and the license plate of the car he was driving. Velez handed over the pictures to Medford Police. A day later authorities found, 26-year old Asia Nguyen-Duy.
“We had excellent photos, we had a plate. The vehicle was not registered to him, but we surveilled the address where it was registered and eventually came across him,” said Lt. Mike Budreau, Medford Police Dept.
Police said Nguyen-Duy is now charged with invasion of personal privacy, reckless driving, and reckless endangerment. This is the second time in the last few months MPD has taken on a case like this. Now police are warning everyone to be aware of what’s around them.
“Nobody should be violating your personal space when you’re out in public. If they are, you should be raising some red flags and try to distance yourself,” said Lt. Budreau.
As for Velez’s family, they’re still shocked it happened and hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
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