EDMONDS – Real estate agents throughout Washington are being warned about a man who groped a female agent at an open house Saturday.
The man’s description is posted on a real estate database available to more than 16,000 Realtors. The victim is also working with police to produce a sketch of the man.
“We would like to get this guy stopped. It was very bold to attack someone in the middle of a Saturday afternoon,” Edmonds police Sgt. Jeff Jones said. “We worried this could lead to something worse.”
The man left the open house on 220th Street SW after the real estate agent felt uncomfortable and called her husband.
But he came back later that afternoon, said Chris Pauling, president of Prudential Northwest Realty. The victim declined to discuss the assault.
The man asked her to help him measure the basement, Pauling said. After she refused, he put his arm around her and groped her, he said.
“She reacted immediately. She screamed really loud and she was yelling at him,” Pauling said. “We’re fortunate that she did follow her training and this incident wasn’t worse than it was.”
The man fled. Police are still searching for him.
Jones said there have been no similar incidents reported in Edmonds. In Mill Creek, a female real estate agent reported that a man who claimed to be a real estate agent was acting suspiciously when she showed him a home in May, said Mill Creek police spokeswoman Becky Erk. That woman was not hurt.
The Edmonds victim described the man as white, 35 to 40 years old, 6 feet tall and of medium build.
He has short sandy-colored hair and brown eyes, and he wore glasses with wire frames and oval lenses, she said. He has no facial hair.
Anyone with information may call the Edmonds Police Department at 425-771-0200.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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