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A man from the Bay Area has been accused of sexually assaulting employees at a Mendocino County, California, COSTCO outlet free sample station.
Knewz.com has learned that a resident of Cloverdale, Mendocino County, the 55-year-old reportedly drove 30 miles to carry out the inappropriate encounter with the female COSTCO employee.
The employee working the free sample station was interviewed by Officer Anthony DeLapo after the sexual assault incident happened.
According to her statement, she was working her station when she was approached by 55-year-old Timothy Scott McIlvain, a person she recognized from a week or two earlier, "when he had displayed similarly odd behavior, approaching her cart and simply staring."
The victim said that McIlvain approached her cart and asked her about the samples she was offering. However, he did not acknowledge her or respond to her when she replied.
At this point, their interaction was interrupted when a few other shoppers approached the booth to ask about the food samples.
After they had left, McIlvain stepped around the sample booth to stand directly beside the employee, and asked her, "What do you think of me?"
According to the report, the woman replied, “You’re OK,” as she was “trying to be friendly and not upset him.”
What followed was a disturbing and scarring moment for the employee, as the middle-aged man “took his right hand and grabbed her v----- outside of her clothes.”
It was reported that the man was silent throughout the encounter and then simply walked away.
The manager of the Mendocino County COSTCO outlet informed the police that McIlvain had previously had an “inappropriate interaction” with another female employee as well.
During the other encounter, he acted “kind of flirty” with the employee, before walking around to her side, making her uncomfortable. According to the report, he then said, “That ain’t no keys in my pocket,” before moving to pull down his shorts.
The female employee immediately yelled, “Get out of here!” and told the police she had not looked down to check whether he had actually exposed himself.
Following the more recent sexual assault incident, which happened on May 30, 2024, officers from the Ukiah Police Department arrived at Costco at about 5:35 p.m. and were informed that “a male customer had inappropriately touched a female employee.”
It has been reported that when Officer DeLapo and Officer Jordan Miller approached him, he was standing in the self-checkout line and just "aimlessly stared at them," making them wonder whether he was deaf or just refusing to cooperate.
McIlvain's refusal to cooperate kept growing throughout the arrest, as he “refused to walk on his own accord” and made his body go limp, prompting the officers to somewhat drag him out of the store while holding him up.
Reports mentioned: "As he was removed from the Costco, McIlvain 'continuously yelled,' an action described in the report as an apparent attempt to 'cause a disturbance.'"
He also made it extremely difficult for the officers to put him in the back of the patrol car, resisting entry and trying to “slide himself backwards out of the passenger side.”
Based on the surveillance footage and the interview with the victim and others at the store, McIlvain was booked into the Mendocino County Jail that day on charges of misdemeanor sexual battery, misdemeanor attempted indecent exposure, and misdemeanor resisting a peace officer.
On November 8, he was McIlvain was sentenced to 12 months of formal probation and was required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
It is worth noting that he was not sentenced to any time behind bars, despite an assessment deeming him highly likely to re-offend, according to reports.