A San Diego woman has filed a lawsuit after being sexually assaulted inside a Dollar Tree store on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard on March 2
.
The lawsuit, filed as San Diego Superior Court case number 26CU017271C, details how the woman, identified as Jane Doe, was shopping for office supplies when she noticed a man watching her and following her from aisle to aisle
.
The man positioned himself directly behind her in the stationery aisle and made physical contact with her from behind, quickly apologized and walked away, and within seconds Ms. Doe felt something wet on her clothing and discovered a sticky substance on the back of her pants
.
She confronted the man, asking whether he had wiped something on her, but he denied it and quickly left the store; she later realized the substance on her clothing was semen
.
She went home, called the police, and began trying to process what had happened; within days, another woman had been assaulted in nearly the same way at the same San Diego store just one day earlier
.
Six days after Ms. Doe’s assault, the same perpetrator returned and assaulted a third victim
.
The perpetrator’s identity and charges emerged after authorities investigated.
A 22-year-old locally based US Marine has been charged with misdemeanor lewd conduct and misdemeanor sexual battery in connection with the three incidents
.
His attorney Isaac Blumberg said his client maintains his innocence and cautioned that the allegations have yet to be tested in court
.
“It’s worth remembering the record at this point consists entirely of one side’s allegations, none of which have been tested in court,” Blumberg told media outlets.
The victim’s legal action stretches beyond the criminal case.
The lawsuit says Dollar Tree knew of the danger and completely failed to protect Ms. Doe and continues to fail to protect countless other female customers
.
The lawsuit says a clerk told her that she was the third sexual assault victim in four days at that location, and that staff recognized the suspect description from earlier complaints
.
The victim sought documentation of the assault but faced obstacles.
The woman said she sought surveillance footage from the Clairemont store after her alleged encounter but was told by a manager the camera covering the aisle was not working
.
Alreen Haeggquist, her attorney, told outlets her client is “not doing well, because she’s now just scared to just go to the market, just scared to go shopping by herself, and nobody should have to have that fear.”
“This is not an isolated incident. It’s a pattern,” said Alreen Haeggquist. “Women across the country are being targeted in the same way, inside the same stores, and the company has done far too little to stop it.”
The scope of the problem extends well beyond San Diego.
At least 11 women nationwide—including the three who reported incidents in San Diego—have alleged similar encounters inside Dollar Tree stores
.
Houston personal injury attorney Anna Greenberg represents four women who allege they were ejaculated on while shopping at Dollar Tree stores—one in Miami, one in San Diego, a client in Colorado Springs who was shopping with her mother
.
Attorneys have examined an online subculture where perpetrators shared videos of assaults, encouraged one another and celebrated the abuse of unsuspecting women
.
The affidavit claims videos of such incidents have appeared on pornography websites and it has become so notorious it has spawned “a SoundCloud track, cryptocurrency coin and custom Pokémon card.”
Attorney Clemency Condry, who is representing a San Diego plaintiff, said her research led her to what she described as a disturbing online culture surrounding the behavior
.
In some cases, women have posted videos to shame the alleged perpetrators, but doing so can inadvertently give them what they want “because they are getting notoriety.”
One victim said: “You [have] to take accountability of what is happening in your stores. You’re causing pain to people… you guys need to stop it.” Attorney Anna Greenberg said about the online community: “We couldn’t believe how big the scale was.”
Dollar Tree issued a response denying all allegations in the lawsuit.
A Dollar Tree spokesman said: “The safety and security of our associates and customers are our highest priorities. We take reports of inappropriate, unlawful, or harassing behavior in our stores extremely seriously.
“Any incident of this nature is unacceptable, and when we become aware of criminal activity, we cooperate fully with law enforcement and support their investigations.”
In Colorado Springs, police identified a suspect accused of multiple sex crimes inside a Dollar Tree, including following women through aisles and engaging in non-consensual sexual conduct
.
In Philadelphia, a young woman’s mother described her daughter’s experience after a similar assault inside a Dollar Tree as “traumatizing,” explaining how deeply it affected her sense of safety
.
In the viral moment that accelerated legal action nationwide, the San Diego victim discovered she was the third woman assaulted within four days at the same Clairemont Mesa location. Staff members had apparently tracked the pattern themselves, with one clerk telling her about earlier victims and recognizing the suspect description from previous complaints. When the woman tried to access store surveillance footage to document her assault, a manager told her the camera covering the aisle—the exact location of the attack—was not working. Her attorneys argue this failure, combined with chronic understaffing and minimal security, created conditions that emboldened predators. The broader legal complaint against Dollar Tree maintains the chain knew about the dangerous pattern but did nothing to prevent it.
The lawsuit alleges that the company’s practices, including chronic understaffing, lack of working surveillance cameras, and absence of meaningful security measures, created an environment where predators could operate
.