Pervert on the CAT bus.
I’ve taken roughly the same bus route almost every day of the week for the last several months, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends, and every once in a while I see a guy who acts like a complete creep.
He’s an older, maybe 60-70, about 5’8-5’11, white skin, white hair (medium length, over the nape and down to his shoulders in the back), white facial hair (goatee), sometimes with clear-rimmed bifocals or occasionally sunglasses, and always wears a dundee/bush-style cowboy hat with some combination of a Hawaiian/patterned shirt and pants or shorts. He’s also got a clamshell looking ass flip phone.
That’s a lot of attention to detail for a stranger, I know, but I need you to understand I’ve seen this guy many times over the course of a very long period, and he’s an unabashed pervert.
Once, he sat in the front three seats of the bus (handicapped section, facing the aisle), and a freshman-looking girl sitting by herself sat in the first non-handicapped seat behind those (facing the front of the bus). This man sat in the thirdmost seat from the front, against hers, and stared at her point-blank the entire trip. I’m talking he openly looked her up and down the entire time. I was sitting a bit behind her and saw her scrolling through her settings app just to have something on her phone to look at.
Another time, he followed a girl around a bus stop (again, blatantly looking her up and down), mouth open, staring at her legs, etc. Every time she moved, he moved closer.
Once, myself and a friend saw him follow and come to stand over a girl who was crouched (squatting in thin active wear, waiting for the bus while on her phone) by a stop. My friend and I decided to stand between the two of them so he wouldn’t get closer.
We now make it a point to sit adjacent/across from him so that women don’t take those seats instead.
I’ve heard people discuss his blatant staring during rides, so I know it’s not just me/my friends who have noticed. I would worry this man is maybe just not all there, that maybe I’m reading into it and he’s just an old guy whose got a staring problem and a severe lack of social awareness, but I feel there’s literally no other way to interpret his behavior around women - and it’s ONLY with women. Otherwise, he’s normal. Talks on the phone, doesn’t disturb anyone, doesn’t stare. But if a young or conventionally-attractive woman boards or walks by, he acts like a creep.
Has anyone ever noticed this guy?
EDIT: So, it turns out the guy’s name is James Gilbert Stearn, and he’s a registered sex offender. He has two convictions: one for peeping into a woman’s residence while she was changing (7/10/2009), and one for failing to register/providing false information regarding his S.O status (6/7/2019).
For those asking, I would see him most often on the trolley moving through/around campus, University Ave, and Main/Water Street/DTM.
Additionally, he works at Taco Bell (Emmet St), so if he were to take the bus route to/from work, I would imagine he’d ride the number 7 or 8, which is strange since I only ever see him either walking/sitting on campus or somewhere between there and Water St (the corner/women’s center/the flats at west village, etc).
If you look him up for his picture, be mindful that his hair is now grown out. It’s white, curly, and shoulder-length (always pushed back w/ hat on; falls over nape of his neck).
He doesn’t ever seem to do anything besides stare, but if you’re a woman and do spot him in public, be aware.