Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comic con, comic harassment, Comics, dragincon, dragon con, entertainment, fbi

$2000 Reward Offered To Identify Sexual Assault Suspect At DragonCon

Published Tue, 08 Sep 2015 07:00:36 -0500

Last updated Wed, 17 Jun 2020 12:19:59 -0500

It is true that Dragon*Con has a certain reputation. But that's never come without the word "consent"…

11Alive reported that "Atlanta police are searching for a man who allegedly sexually assaulted a woman attending the DragonCon convention over the weekend."

According to police, the suspect introduced himself as "Gary" from Marietta to the victim at DragonCon on Sunday. The man was wearing an FBI baseball cap.

The woman wasn't feeling well, and was allegedly led away from the event by the man, where she was sexually assaulted. The assault did not happen at the convention itself, police said. It occurred between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. near the Mall at Peachtree Center.

People were encouraged to call Atlanta Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS (8477) with a reward of up to $2,000 being offered.

The internet was in the case with Reddit groups r/dragoncon and r/atlanta stepping up.

wowgoldfarmer Oh dang… I saw this guy at the Hyatt on Sunday night, I think. The "FBI" acronym was decoded as "Friendly Body Inspector" or something about feeling up people. Not surprised to see he's in trouble now. The whole get-up was in very poor taste, IMO, but I'm not a millennial so what do I know.

future_damage I'm willing to bet that hat says Female Body Inspector, which would make the crime odd as well as totally f-cked up.

crovok It does. I worked with him at Office Depot in Smryna. I called Crimestoppers and gave them his info.

JessicaWolf THIS f-cking creep. He would not stop watching me at Office Depot. I actually stopped going there because of him and was going to the Office Max and Bestbuy down the road for a while when I needed to get ink cartridges for work and such.

crovok I use to be his manager and he would constantly comment on women that came in. I ran into him at Cowboys once and it was total cringe. Forcing himself on women, drunk dancing and he reeked of cheap cologne. So yeah not suprised at all.

WSBTV reported that

Police have been flooded with tips on the man's identity so far.

Channel 2's Matt Johnson talked to a police lieutenant who tells him the suspect needs to be formally identified by the victim before they can go any further in identifying him and making an arrest.

Dragon*Con's official statement reads,

Dragon Con is proud to offer a safe and inclusive convention for its members that is free of harassment or assault of any kind. We work with the Atlanta Police Department all year to develop and install procedures to prevent issues such as these. If and when they occur, we insure they are handled by the appropriate authorities. APD is on site throughout the convention.

As a matter of policy, Dragon Con does not comment on any specific incident. All questions should be directed to APD.

And as one attendee wrote,

boss1000 Agreed. I know the energy may dissipate with a year to the next DC, but I want to reiterate that it's important we be aware of this behavior and discourage or stop it when it shows. I think it's especially important for men (like myself) to have zero tolerance for signs of predatory action.