Parents tackle child rapist accused of stalking kids in dressing room
TUMWATER, Wash. -- A convicted child rapist is behind bars a day after he was arrested for allegedly snapping cell phone pictures of little kids at a Tumwater Walmart and Fred Meyer.
According to police, the mother of a 6-year-old girl said she saw Randy Russell Smith, 54, taking pictures of her daughter around 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Tumwater WalMart. She alerted a store manager but Russell had already left the store, police said. Smith then went next door to the Fred Meyer, where he proceeded to take cell phone pictures of an infant boy and another child, police said.
That's when a father spotted him and decided to take action, Tumwater Police Detective Jen Kolb said.
“The father of a six year-old girl was inside the Fred Meyer and he was helping his kids pick out some clothes," Kolb said. "The little girl was in the dressing room changing and when he walked around the corner to check on her, he observed the suspect kneeling down and trying to take a picture underneath her dressing room door.”
That father, Eric Dewitt, and another parent wrestled Smith to the ground and held him there until police arrived.
Smith previously served 20 years in prison for raping a 3-year-old girl in 1990. He was released in the Spring of 2010, and lives out of his van.
Tumwater police are grateful for the citizens who intervened and got Smith locked up again before he did something even worse, Kolb said.
“I would commend the people for getting involved and stepping up and helping us catch this guy,” Kolb said.
Smith appeared in court at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Thurston County Courthouse. A judge set bail at $500,000. He is facing voyeurism charges.
As a convicted sex offender who is transient, he was supposed to check in with the Thurston County Sheriff's Office once a week. It is unknown if he performed the scheduled check-ins.