PHOENIX — A man who is in the custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office after being arrested for sexual assault is seen on video crawling to a woman in a waiting area of the jail, pulling his pants down and touching himself while behind her, all while an officer is nearby but out of sight.
Justin Avery was arrested in April in Tempe outside Arizona State University's Hayden Library after he allegedly assaulted three women he randomly approached within 30 minutes of each other.
Just days later, on April 17 while in a waiting room at the Intake, Transfer and Release facility in Phoenix, a video shows Avery appearing to attempt to sexually assault a woman who was curled up on the floor and appeared to be sleeping.
12News obtained the video on Sept. 18.
In the video, Avery is on one side of the room and the woman on the other, with an officer sitting at a desk separating them. Avery can be seen crawling around the desk, out of the view of the officer, making his way to the woman.
When he got to her, he appeared to pull his pants down while putting a finger to his mouth, telling a possible witness to "shh."
When the officer realized what Avery was doing, he came from behind the desk and attempted to put Avery in handcuffs. Other officers were called in to help and Avery was eventually handcuffed and led out of the room.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said in a statement this is the first time anything like this has happened since opening the facility four years ago.
"We’re appalled by inmate Avery’s actions at our ITR facility. This was a unique incident and the first of its kind in four years, since the ITR facility was open. We acted immediately, adding mirrors for better monitoring in the blind spots that were identified," the statement said. "In addition, a review of our current procedures was completed to ensure best practices are being implemented. The safety of staff and inmates is our top priority, and we’re committed to ensuring this doesn’t happen again. Inmate Avery has been reclassified due to his institutional behavior."
Avery was in custody when the incident happened and will remain in custody, officials said.
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