A man inappropriately touched three female UF students on campus Monday after claiming he was trying to remove a bug off each of their bodies, according to the University Police Department.
The first two incidents occurred on the Reitz Union North Lawn between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. The third occurred at about 5:15 p.m. near the Fine Arts C building.
The suspect is described as a 20- to 30-year-old Middle Eastern man with a thick accent who is between 5 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall.
Each time, he targeted white females between the ages of 18 and 22.
In the third incident, he approached the woman at the Fine Arts C building, frantically telling her she had a large bug on her back, according to a UPD news release.
While brushing her back, he told the woman the bug crawled under her shirt. He then lifted her shirt and placed his hand on her back.
Next, he told the woman the bug had crawled down her pants and tried to reach into her pants, at which point the woman pulled away and told him to stop touching her. He then tried to hug her before walking away toward the center of campus, the release stated.
UPD Lt. Darren Baxley said the other two women reported similar stories.
The suspect, who is believed to have dark hair and a dark complexion, was reportedly wearing khaki shorts or pants, a burnt-orange shirt and may have had metal-framed eyeglasses.
Baxley said UPD had no leads as of Tuesday morning. He said it's possible other women have been assaulted as well, but have not reported it yet.
"I think, based on my experience, that typically when we get a spree pattern like this, there will be more victims that we don't know about," he said.
Baxley said UPD plans to charge the culprit with battery for all three incidents.
He asked anyone with information about the alleged crimes to contact UPD at 392-1111.
