Over the course of a week in March last year, three women told police they were shopping in a Dollar Tree store when a stranger neared and apparently either ejaculated on them or wiped semen on them from behind.
The incidents have spurred criminal charges for a locally-based U.S. Marine and a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court targeting the store chain. That suit contends the women weren’t targeted as a random lewd act, but part of a wider phenomenon, where “perpetrators masturbate on or at unconsenting victims in public spaces for sexual gratification or online notoriety.”
The local lawsuit alleges that at least 11 women across the country have reported similar incidents inside Dollar Tree stores, that videos of such incidents circulate on pornography sites, and that the occurrences have spawned “a SoundCloud track, cryptocurrency coin, and custom Pokémon card.”
Aside from the incidents in San Diego, the Sheriff’s Office told the Union-Tribune Friday that two such incidents in Dollar Tree stores — one in Lemon Grove, the other in Spring Valley — were reported this year. No suspect or suspects have been identified. Those incidents are not included in the lawsuit.
A company spokesperson for Dollar Tree said, in part, “The safety and security of our associates and customers are our highest priorities. We take reports of inappropriate, unlawful, or harassing behavior in our stores extremely seriously. Any incident of this nature is unacceptable, and when we become aware of criminal activity, we cooperate fully with law enforcement and support their investigations.”
The spokesperson also said the company works to “maintain a safe and secure environment,” and efforts include “ongoing safety education, regular policy reviews, risk assessment and mitigation activities, investments in physical security measures, and collaboration with local law enforcement.”
In court documents, the company denied all allegations in the lawsuit and denied that it was “in any way negligent, careless, reckless, wanton or unlawful, vis-a-vis the incident that allegedly gives rise to this lawsuit.”
The phenomenon gained widespread public attention in July when The Guardian reported about several incidents of what it called public masturbating or “gooning” in Dollar Tree stores nationwide.
The Guardian story highlighted a 2023 Houston incident that, when it was reported by local media, prompted several women to come forward with stories of their own experiences. Ed Blizzard, the attorney for the Texas woman, said researchers brought in by his firm turned up several such public incidents across the country. One victim posted a video in which she screamed and cried as she chased a man following a 2024 incident in Philadelphia.
San Diego attorney Alreen Haeggquist is suing Dollar Tree on behalf of one of the three women who allege they were targeted in the Clairemont store. She said her client is “not doing well, because she’s now just scared to just go to the market, just scared to go shopping by herself, and nobody should have to have that fear.”
San Diego police said they found no other reports of similar incidents happening to unsuspecting victims anywhere else in the city. Further details about the two incidents in East County were not immediately available.
Attorney Clemency Condry, who is also representing the San Diego woman in the lawsuit, said she researched the phenomenon and found a “subculture of men that promote this behavior, and it’s horrifying.” She said she found that sometimes the victim will post a video to shame the person, but it can have the opposite effect “because they are getting notoriety.”
According to the lawsuit, the woman who is suing asked the store for surveillance footage but was told by a manager that the security camera in the aisle where the alleged incident happened was not functioning. The suit alleges that Dollar Tree has inadequate security and “chronic” understaffing, which in turn “has made its stores a hunting ground for sexual predators.”
In each of the three reported San Diego incidents, which happened on two weekends in March 2025, the alleged victims said they were shopping at the same Dollar Tree on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard when a man got very close behind them, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. They each soon noticed a substance on their clothing — and in the case of one woman, in her hair.
Following a police investigation, two of the three women and a store manager picked the suspect from a photo lineup, and the other selected photos of him and another man who looked similar, according to the affidavit.
Police tested the clothing of the first woman, but were not able to find DNA, nor were they able to confirm the substance as semen, according to the affidavit. The document also stated that in the case of the second woman, the lab was not able to compare the defendant’s DNA with the clothing, but the stains on her clothing were “presumptively positive for semen.”
A 22-year-old man has been charged with misdemeanor lewd conduct and misdemeanor sexual battery in connection with the three Clairemont incidents. He has pleaded not guilty.
The man’s attorney said his client maintains his innocence. “It’s worth remembering the record at this point consists entirely of one side’s allegations, none of which have been tested in court,” attorney Isaac Blumberg said.
The Marine Corps did not respond to a request for information about the defendant’s duty status.