A Toccoa man faces nine counts of sexual battery after police say he went through the Walmart in Cornelia stalking and groping female employees. Cornelia police took 24-year-old Zachery Kelton Pittman into custody on February 4 after Habersham E-911 dispatched officers to the store to investigate the claims.
According to the arrest warrants, Pittman touched several female employees on the buttocks. Pittman allegedly groped some of the women as he passed by them. Others, he allegedly accosted after asking them for help.
On three occasions, police say, Pittman placed his victims under “surveillance,” approaching and groping them multiple times. For that offense, officers charged him with stalking.
The alleged incidents occurred on Sunday, January 30. When the suspect, later identified as Pittman, returned to the store the following Friday, loss prevention staff began tracking his movements and called police.
“During the investigation, officers viewed video surveillance of the incidents and collected written statements from multiple victims,” says Assistant Cornelia Police Chief Jonathan Roberts. Based on those written statements and video footage, officers placed Pittman under arrest.
In addition to the nine misdemeanor sexual battery counts, officers charged Pittman with three counts of misdemeanor stalking and booked him into jail. Habersham County Magistrate Judge Amy Thomas set Pittman’s bond at $14,400. As of February 7, Pittman remained in the Habersham County jail.
