UTICA At approximately 4:32 p.m. Aug. 24, police responded to a call from Target on Hall Road in regard to an unknown subject who had spread feces all over the mens bathroom four times in the previous three days.
When police arrived, an employee informed them that on four separate occasions, shoppers and employees discovered feces smeared on the walls and floors of the mens restroom.
The first incident occurred after 6 p.m. Aug. 21. The second incident happened in the afternoon Aug. 22.
On Aug. 23, the store employee told police that three white men who appeared to be in their early 20s entered the mens bathroom together at approximately 12:36 p.m. and left at approximately 12:40 p.m.
The employee said that as the men left the store, they looked around and exited out the shopping cart door area, where there are no surveillance cameras. They got into an older-model, gold Pontiac Sunfire with an unreadable license plate and drove off, he said.
Five minutes after they left the restroom, another employee went into the mens restroom and observed feces all over the two stalls and on the floor.
The employee informed police that two of the males had purchased items with their debit cards.
The fourth incident took place at approximately 9:17 p.m. Aug. 23. An approximately 5 foot 8 inch white man in his 20s with brown hair, wearing a gray shirt and blue jeans, entered the store and walked directly into the mens restroom. After he entered, an employee en route to the restroom observed feces in the hallway leading to the restroom.
Another employee entered the restroom and observed the suspect in a stall and no one else in the restroom. The employee did not confront the suspect. At approximately 9:25 p.m., the suspect left the bathroom and quickly exited the store.
A person in a black Jeep parked by the side of the building was waiting for the suspect. He got into the passenger side of the vehicle and they left, traveling eastbound through the parking lot. The employee captured the vehicles license plate number.
At approximately 3:55 p.m. Aug. 25, police returned to the store and spoke with the employee, who said he would work on making a CD of the surveillance footage from the last two incidents.
Police turned the case over to the detective bureau.
Utica Deputy Chief Sean Coady said the detective bureau is working with local businesses to get surveillance video of vehicles coming and going during the incidents.
Otherwise, Target is going to be a little more diligent in the patrol of the bathroom, Coady said. We havent seen anything like that locally, and Im not aware of anybody else having the same issues.
