CAUGHT: Viewer tip leads police to man accused of groping teen girls at YMCA

Nathan Allen, 20, of Puyallup, is wanted by police on two arrest warrants for assault with sexual motivation. (Photo: Puyallup Police Dept.)



PUYALLUP, Wash — An alert Q13FOX News viewer helped police arrest a 20-year-old accused of inappropriately touching two teens after seeing our exclusive story Wednesday night and calling in the man’s location to authorities.

Puyallup Police said Nathan Allen was arrested by Tacoma Police at a homeless shelter in Tacoma.

“A citizen saw media coverage about Allen and alerted TPD to his location,” said Capt Scott Engle with Puyallup Police.

As we reported, Puyallup Police had issued two arrest warrants for Nathan Allen and were actively searching for him after the complaints surfaced from the teens.

Police said the first incident happened Jan. 10 at a youth program at the YMCA.

One of the victims, 18-year-old Amy, told Q13 FOX News in an exclusive interview Wednesday night: “He pulled me onto his lap, I tried to get up. He did it a couple more times. And I said, Don’t touch me.”

Amy said she didn’t know Allen, but her friends did.  The night they met, she said, he kept following her and then got her alone in one of the rooms at the Y.

“He pinned me up against a pole outside that room, saying, ‘Kiss me, kiss me.’ I said no, leave me alone.”

Police said he did the same sort of thing to another girl at the YMCA that day.

Amy said the incident made her uncomfortable, but she didn’t think too much about it until the next week when she went to a nearby McDonald’s and saw Allen again.

“The victim left the restaurant upon seeing Allen,” said Puyallup police Capt. Scott Engle.  “Mr. Allen followed her out of the restaurant around a nearby shopping building, where he again assaulted her.”

Amy said, “He pinned me up against a wall, was groping my chest, feeling all around my body and started to put his hand into my pants. He was very strong from what I could tell. I couldn’t get off the wall whatsoever. I was trying to push off him, trying to keep his hand from going all the way into my pants.”

She said he stopped when he heard other people coming around the corner. When Amy called police, she found out she wasn’t the only alleged victim at the Y.  They also told her Allen had a history of predatory behavior going back to 2008.

A spokesperson with the YMCA says Allen used to be a member. When police told them what happened, they put a note on his account banning him from any future events. But they say he has not been back since this incident.