Man Arrested For Allegedly Breaking Into Dorm Rooms, Groping Women While They Were Asleep

A man in Tacoma, Washington, was arrested for allegedly breaking into dorm rooms and groping female students at Pacific Lutheran University.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department said Sunday the unidentified suspect made his way into the university dorm and entered two different dorm rooms belonging to female students. He then reportedly watched them and groped them, while they were asleep, according to CBS News.

When the students woke up to find the intruder groping them, the man ran away.

It was around 4:15 a.m. when the first victim woke up to find the stranger in her room watching her and her roommate. The woman then got up to check her closet, the sheriff's office said.

The man went on to grab her, prompting the woman to start hitting the man and yelling at him to leave. The man fled the scene, but was reportedly still on the premises, KIRO-TV reported.

The police said the female student and her roommate went for breakfast at around 5:30 a.m. They then heard screaming from another room.

When the two women saw the same intruder fleeing the dorm, they followed him until the suspect allegedly used a shoe to hit one of them.

The woman pepper-sprayed the man, and the two roommates clicked a picture of the suspect before he disappeared, officials said.

According to the statement provided by the university to its students, there were "two separate calls from two students who reported having been sexually assaulted in South Hall by the same unknown assailant."

The sheriff's office said they managed to nab the man using the photo clicked by the female student. He was found near Sixth Avenue and North Jackson Avenue on Sunday evening.

"With the help from the public we received several tips identifying this suspect thanks to the news coverage of the suspect's photo," the sheriff's office said. "One tip helped us track the man down and Tacoma Police arrested him near 6th and Jackson in the city of Tacoma."

The man was taken into custody and was facing charges of first-degree burglary and assault.