The women who fought off a man who allegedly was trying to attack one of them in a Perimeter Mall restroom have come forward to authorities to help with the case, Channel 2 Action News reported.
DeKalb County Solicitor General Sherry Boston said the women, who live in the Atlanta area but wish to remain anonymous, contacted authorities Monday after a friend spotted them in a news story about the June 19 incident at the Dunwoody shopping center.
Without their statements, Kennedy Perez Miranda would have faced only minor charges in the incident, Boston said.
Miranda, of Lafayette, Ind., also is a suspect in three cases of inappropriate contact with women in stores in Gwinnett County and another in DeKalb. The victims in those cases identified him in photographs taken after his arrest at Perimeter Mall.
A public defender indicated Miranda maintains he's not guilty, Channel 2 reported.
In the Perimeter Mall case, a woman was changing a baby's diaper in a restroom near the food court when a man grabbed her from behind and thrust his hips against her several times. After she pushed him away, her friend pushed him out of the door and kept pushing him until security arrived on the scene.
Miranda was arrested, but mall security officers did not get the women's names when they took their statements.
Now the mystery has been solved.
"We are very thankful for these brave women who first helped apprehend this alleged predator, and now their testimony could help keep him behind bars longer," Boston said in a news release. "These women truly are heroes."
— Staff writer Rhonda Cook contributed to this article.
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