MIAMI (WSVN) - A 32-year-old man was arrested after police said surveillance video captured him placing his face near a 9-year-old girl’s buttocks and inhaling while she shopped at a Dollar Tree in Miami.
Javan Curry Battle was arrested Monday following the encounter at the Dollar Tree at 1043 W. Flagler St.
According to a City of Miami Police arrest report, the girl and Battle did not know each other.
Police said the girl had gone to the store with her mother to buy materials for a school project. Her mother asked her to go to another aisle to get cardboard, where investigators said Battle was shopping.
Surveillance video reviewed by detectives showed Battle approaching the girl from behind, looking around and positioning his face near her buttocks before appearing to inhale, according to the report.
Investigators said Battle then followed the girl as she began walking away and leaned his pelvic area toward her, but appeared not to make contact because she quickly moved away.
During an interview with investigators, the girl said she felt Battle touch or nudge her near her arm and later felt what she described as air on her lower back.
She told detectives she realized he was smelling her and ran back to her mother.
The store manager reviewed the surveillance footage and contacted authorities.
Officers with Miami Police’s Little Havana Problem Solving Team responded and detained Battle.
Battle was arrested and taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
A judge found probable cause and ordered house arrest with an alternate $2,500 bond on the lewd and lascivious conduct charge. Battle also faces a charge of resisting an officer with violence, with a separate $2,500 bond.
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