Dec. 20—Decatur Police Chief Todd Pinion urged citizens Thursday to remain vigilant as he uses “all available resources” to arrest the perpetrator of a series of sexual assaults.
According to Decatur police, a black man, believed to be between 6 feet 6 inches tall, between 20 and 45 years old and with a slim to medium build, broke into three homes and sexually assaulted a victim in each home. The suspect, who was wearing a face covering, entered the homes through unlocked windows on April 27, December 7 and December 14.
The crimes occurred on Ferry Street Northeast, Hay Drive Southwest and Second Avenue Southwest, respectively.
On Wednesday, the department issued a news release asking for the public’s help and urging residents to exercise caution. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pinion explained that he did not want to cause “undue alarm within the community” after the April burglary because nothing at the time led investigators to believe that “anything of a serial nature” was going on.
“Obviously this kind of thing doesn’t happen very often, and then we got the second one and we put two and two together – we wanted to make sure the public was aware of it,” Pinion said. “We don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize the investigation, but we still wanted to release as much information as possible.”
According to data published by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, there were 177 burglaries and 11 rapes in Morgan County between 2020 and 2023.
Pinion declined to say whether the victims were groped or raped.
“It’s a wide range of things,” he said. “Either way, it doesn’t matter if it’s a groping or a rape, it’s still a violation of a human being, and that’s why we take this very seriously. Based on the MO (modus operandi) and the descriptions of the suspect in these last few cases is why we are taking this extra precaution – we will assume they are all connected until the evidence proves otherwise.
“We’re still looking and going through multiple reports and different things. Look, this has been priority number one. When that happened again last week, CID was told, Hey, we’ve got to get this resolved. Any resource that we have available, including some of our federal partners, is involved.”
The Decatur Police Department is part of a joint task force, created in 2018 and aimed at preventing violent crime, that includes the FBI and several other local and state law enforcement agencies.
“I am grateful that our police department is working on these issues with all available resources, including our media partners,” said Mayor Tab Bowling.
Pinion said residents should remain vigilant.
“If they see anyone suspicious, especially late at night in the area, make sure your windows and doors are locked. Don’t leave anything unsafe,” he said.
City Councilman Hunter Pepper, whose District 4 appears to border one of the burglarized locations, also encouraged residents to stay alert.
“People like that don’t deserve to live in our society,” Pepper said. “My hope is that he gets captured quickly or chooses the wrong house and someone shoots or fatally wounds him.”
Pinion said residents with home security video systems should ensure those systems are functioning and recording. Some systems, such as Ring Doorbells, only record video if users pay for a subscription service.
“I can tell you we are working on several tips and several leads,” Pinion said. “We have done a number of preliminary studies into this. But that being said, we are also asking for the public’s help in helping with this.
“This is not acceptable in our city, and we need to be able to get this resolved.”
The Decatur Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division is asking for any information that could be helpful to these cases or that could lead to the identity of the individual. For information, call the Decatur Police Department tip line at 256-341-4636.
If anyone sees suspicious activity, call Decatur Police at 256-341-4660 to report it.
– david.gambino@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438.
