Police Identify Suspect In Tulsa Metro Sexual Battery Cases

Investigators have identified and issued a warrant for a registered sex offender they suspect is the man who has groped women and exposed himself several times over the past few weeks in the Tulsa metro area.

Police say 32-year-old Jaime Hartness is wanted on four counts of sexual battery and three counts of indecent exposure. They say Hartness is a registered sex offender from Carthage, Missouri.

Investigators from the Tulsa, Bixby and Broken Arrow police departments teamed up last week after a string of sexual battery incidents in the area all seemed to be connected.

1/29/2013 Related Story: Police Connect Another Case To Tulsa Metro Area Groping Suspect

"He goes into the store, approaches a female employee, he asks about memberships and a tour and she shows him a tanning bed in a room, and that's when he grabs her breasts through her clothing and takes off," said Cpl. Leon Calhoun, of the Broken Arrow Police Department.

Police say Hartness also pushed an 18-year-old woman up against her car in the Woodland Hills Mall parking lot and grabbed her from behind.

Two other cases popped up at stores nearby with female employees reporting they were groped and the man exposed himself.

Hartness is 5-foot-11, 180 lbs. Police say he may be driving a 2002 gray Mercury Sable with Oklahoma tag 772-FIC.

The suspect was caught on two separate surveillance videos and a composite sketch was drawn from witness accounts. In the surveillance footage and in the sketch, he is seen wearing a dark colored baseball cap.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.