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Police wonder whether a bikini-clad man accused of attacking a female lifeguard last month is a sexual predator working Northeast Ohio.
James Fletcher, 49, of Mentor, is accused of assaulting lifeguard Pam Kilroy, 22, of Twinsburg at a residents-only pool in MacIntosh Farms, a subdivision off Broadview Road.
Police say Fletcher
was dressed in a woman's two-piece blue bikini when he cornered Kilroy in a pool house, shocked her with a stun gun and grabbed her as she was dialing 9-1-1 on the pool house phone.
Kilroy dropped the phone and ran from the house, alerting residents who were holding a homeowners' association meeting in another part of the building.
Fletcher casually left the scene and drove off in his car, but not before residents wrote down his license plate number and called police.
Fletcher, who is single, has no children and lives with his parents, was later arrested at his home, where police searched his bedroom. They reported finding a variety of women's bathing suits, marijuana and adult magazines. He declined to comment Wednesday.
A police search of his car uncovered a 10,000-volt stun gun, a pair of handcuffs tucked into a fanny pack, a collection of maps and street guides for cities and parks throughout Northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania, and a stack of new-home and condominium real estate guides.
Police, noting that Fletcher's 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier already has 34,000 miles on it, suspect that the items in the car could be the tools of a big-time prowler.
"Has he done anything else? We're trying to find out," Lt. Steven Kopniske said Wednesday. So far, investigators have learned of no similar incidents in the region.
On the evening of July 25, Fletcher, wearing a woman's blouse and shorts over a blue bikini, tried to get into a residents-only pool at another subdivision off Broadview Road, called New Hampton, but he was turned away, police said.
He then drove to the McIntosh Farms pool, where he told Kilroy he forgot his pool pass. She was new on the job and, despite his strange appearance in woman's attire, allowed him to swim in the bikini, police said.
Shortly before 9 p.m., Kilroy was preparing to close the pool for the day when the attacker struck, police said. The attacker failed to get a direct hit with the stun gun, and Kilroy got only a mild shock, police said.
Fletcher is charged with kidnapping, felonious assault, possession of criminal tools and aggravated burglary. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
http://www.cleveland.com/crime/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1123752785290460.xml&coll=2
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