Tulsa Police: Serial Sexual Battery Suspect Arrested

Police have arrested a man accused of groping a number of women in Tulsa.

Detectives are calling the suspect a serial groper and they give credit to his most recent victim for saving other women from a more dangerous attack.

Brandon James, 24, is the man police say is responsible for groping multiple women.

Detectives say the most recent assault went down in a Walmart checkout line Thursday night.

"When she turns around, he's walking away and still has his hand cupped, where he had done this," Sgt. Mark Mears said.

Mears said, like the other assaults, James grabbed a woman inappropriately and thought he could get away with it.

"He felt like people would be shocked and he'd be able to leave, but that didn't happen this time," Mears said.

1/9/2013 Related Story: Police Search For Suspect In Midtown Tulsa Sexual Battery

This time, Mears said the victim had no tolerance for the attack, so she confronted James and called police quickly enough that the suspect couldn't escape.

"I thanked her personally for catching the guy," Mears said.

Tulsa Police released a suspect sketch when four victims reported being groped last week.

Once James was in custody, Mears said they were able to connect him to the earlier crimes.

Mears said the oldest victim was 71 and the youngest was 11.

They were both groped at Southroads Mall shopping center at 41st and Yale.

"It's more the act itself, I think, rather than the age," Mears said.

The department considers assaults like these serious, because a groper's behavior could escalate.

"There's a certain percentage that start out as a peeping tom or as sexual battery suspect that are going to progress to be a serial rapist or even a serial murderer," Mears said.

Mears said, many times, groping incidents go unreported, but they really shouldn't.

He said there are likely more victims out there and hopes they will come forward.

Police are requesting a higher bond for James, who is currently in jail in lieu of a $56,000 bond on complaints of sexual battery and lewd molestation of a minor.