Jamie Lee Sames, 35, in custody in Minnesota

Updated: Thursday, 18 Mar 2010, 9:12 AM CDT
Reporter: Lindsay Veremis

• Outagamie County, WI.  Case Number 2010CF000173 (03/17/2010)
• Scott County, Mn. Case No. 70-2004-24682 (10/07/2004)
• 609.746, Minnesota Statutes 2006

GRAND CHUTE – Police have arrested a Minnesota man for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl last week outside the Fox River Mall. 35-year-old Jamie Sames was taken into custody in Minnesota Tuesday.

The news is bringing relief for worried parents. The Minnesota man was charged with 2nd degree sexual assault of a child and child enticement in Outagamie County Wednesday afternoon. He is currently in jail in Minnesota awaiting extradition to Wisconsin.

“He said he was a police officer, you’re taught to respect authority,” Christina Arenas of Appleton said outside the mall. “They got tricked into it which is horrible, absolutely horrible.”

Grand Chute police say a former neighbor of the suspect, who now lives in Green Bay, recognized Sames in surveillance video circulated by local media outlets.

“She could identify the person and contacted a family member in the Minnesota area and had them watch the video to confirm it,” Det. Mike Velie explained.

Grand Chute detectives traveled to Minnesota on Tuesday to interview Sames. Ultimately, they arrested him. The 13-year-old identified Sames in a photo line up, and his wife also confirmed her husband was the man in the surveillance video.

According to the criminal complaint, the girl was shopping at Target with a friend, when they decided to steal some makeup. The girl noticed a man, “who appeared to be watching her,” so the girls left the store and began walking to the bus stop.

Court records show the same man, “exited the store and approached them and identified himself as a police officer.”

He told the girls he wanted the merchandise back. According to the criminal complaint, the man told the girl’s friend to wait on a bench, while he spoke with the 13-year-old further.

Police say Sames then took the girl behind the store and touched her inappropriately. When the bus arrived the man told her, “he was finished and she was lucky she wasn’t getting a ticket.”

Attempts to talk with Sames’ family were unsuccessful, he does not yet have an attorney. He could be in Outagamie County Court as soon as Friday.

Sames, of course, is innocent until proven guilty in this case. However, he was convicted in 2005 in Minnesota for interfering with privacy. The judge at the time ordered him to undergo a psychosexual evaluation.