CLEVLEAND, OH — Cleveland police say a man already wanted for allegedly attacking two women in Tremont Saturday also groped a woman inside a Target store as she shopped for a birthday card.
Investigators said all three attacks happened Saturday.
In the first case, 27 year-old Kevin Ballard is accused of grabbing a woman by the waist as she walked down the sidewalk carrying coffee. Police said that woman threw coffee on Ballard and screamed for help causing him to let her go.
But minutes later, investigators believe Ballard struck again. This time, police said Ballard ran up to a woman as she picked up a package outside her house. The woman told officers the man kicked his way into her home, choked her and tried to steal her purse and that package. She told police she kicked and screamed and was able to get free.
Then, Saturday evening, police said that they believe Ballard was the man who walked up behind a woman inside Target on West 117th Street and groped her as she looked at birthday cards.
In a report, police wrote that the woman was "startled and disgusted."
In court documents, a detective said all three assaults were unprovoked and wrote, "the suspect in this case is known to be armed and have violent tendencies."
The attacks came just days after records showed Ballard was released from prison.
5 On Your Side Investigators found Ballard was released from prison on Sept. 25 after serving more than two years for charges of attempted failure to comply and having a weapon under disability.
State records show Ballard also spent time in prison from 2013 to 2016 on weapon, robbery and felonious assault charges.
He was also sentenced to a year in Cuyahoga County Jail when he was 18 for robbery, according to court records.
Cleveland police said Ballard is now wanted for abduction, kidnapping, aggravated burglary and gross sexual imposition for Saturday's attacks.
Police and the U.S. Marshals Service continue to search for Ballard. Anyone with information of Ballard's whereabouts is asked to call 911.
