PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A man known for what he did to two women who were riding on TriMet in 2019 has been arrested once again.
Police responded to a woman who reported she was being followed by an unknown man on North Gantenbein Avenue around 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The woman reported that he followed her for about 15 minutes inside Legacy Emanuel Medical Center where she works, got close to her and she felt a hand reach past her skirt toward her buttocks.
The woman found a white substance on her hair and leg after being touched, according to police.
Investigators determined the man to be Jared Walters.
Around 8 p.m., police found and arrested Walter at the 500 block of Northwest 5th Avenue. He was booked into the Multnomah County Jail and was arraigned Thursday on two charges of 3rd-degree sexual abuse and two counts of harassment.
The 33-year-old is accused of propelling a “dangerous substance” at the woman with the purpose of arousing himself or to gratify his sexual desire, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.
Oregon law defines “dangerous substance” as either blood, urine, semen or feces.
In March 2019, Walter was sentenced to jail for cutting and gluing women’s hair on trains and buses across the metro area as well as performing other sexual acts. He was released in November for good behavior.
One of his victims from that conviction recalled the feeling of her hair being cut while sitting on the bus.
“Something kept tugging at the back of my hair,” said the woman, who wanted to remain anonymous. “I said, ‘This guy is cutting my hair’ and I don’t think anybody believed me.”
She said another woman on the bus handed her a pair of scissors she found on a seat.
“I still have issues of people being in my personal space or people touching my hair or being around my hair,” she said. “And a lot of time, I’ll pull all of my hair over to one side of my neck and hold it if I feel anxious or unsafe.”
She empathized with this latest victim.
“She’s probably feeling angry and vulnerable and probably guilty thinking that she could’ve done something even though there’s nothing you could do in that situation.”