Fort Saskatchewan RCMP are trying to identify a suspect who investigators say exposed his genitals to a little girl in a dressing room at Bruderheim arena earlier this month.
Police said the incident happened on Saturday, Nov. 4 between 5:45 p.m. and 8 p.m.
RCMP said the girl was playing tag with a group of children in the arena lobby when a man she didn’t know “told her to follow him as he knew a good hiding spot.”
“On Nov. 4 during a hockey game at the Bruderheim arena, an unknown adult male suspect had a young girl, a young female child, come into the dressing room with him — he talked her into coming into the dressing room — where he exposed his genitals to her,” Cpl. Laurel Scott said.
Police believe the suspect is between 30 and 40 years old. He was described as wearing black pants with a white stripe, a black jacket with a red crest or symbol on it and brown work boots with orange laces.
“The victim further described the suspect’s clothing to resemble a uniform,” RCMP said in a news release Tuesday.
Investigators are asking anyone who was at the Bruderheim arena on the evening of Nov. 4 to contact Fort Saskatchewan RCMP at 780-997-7983.
“We have put several police resources into solving this investigation and are now reaching out to the public for help,” Staff Sgt. Mike McCauley said. “If you were at the arena, we want your help. Any piece of information might be crucial to this investigation.”
“We think that somebody who was at the arena may have some information for us,” Scott added. “If you were at the game, please give us a call.”
The Fort Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League sent an email to parents of the players involved in its program earlier in the month, telling them about what happened.
However, Bruderheim hockey parents that Global News spoke to at the arena on Tuesday, said they were frustrated because they weren’t warned about the incident earlier.
Global News has reached out to Fort Saskatchewan and Bruderheim Minor Hockey for comment.
RCMP explained they didn’t make this information public sooner in order to protect the investigation.
“For some investigational reasons, for strategic reasons, we haven’t put this information out before now,” Scott said.
“We have been investigating this from the outset,” she said. “We take this very seriously. We’ve dedicated a lot of resources to this investigation. We’re at a point now where we need some public help and that’s why we’ve set up a phone number.”