NORTON SHORES, Mich. — A man who has a history of taking photos of an unclothed person is accused of getting access to two girls' locker rooms at Mona Shores Middle School after-hours.
13 ON YOUR SIDE first received tips about a man getting access to the girls' locker room last week on Jan. 8, and we filed a Freedom of Information Act request to learn more about it.
On Friday, Jan. 19, Mona Shores Public Schools and the Norton Shores Police Department shared more details about their investigation that happened at the middle school after-hours on Dec. 5, 2023.
Authorities identified the suspect as 23-year-old Jarrid Percy-Lahaie of Roosevelt Park. He's facing breaking and entering a building with intent, which is a 10-year felony.
"My office issued charges against this gentleman the other day, and it was based off of our review of a very thorough and quite frankly, very well done police investigation," said D.J. Hilson, Prosecutor for Muskegon County.
Norton Shores Police said they got a call just before 4:30 p.m. about a suspicious person on campus at the middle school.
Officers said a man had made his way into the school illegally after hours and went into the seventh/eighth-grade girls' locker room for about four minutes, and then went into the sixth-grade girls' locker room.
A student spotted the man go into one of the locker rooms, which made him run out of the building, police said.
Authorities shut down access to the locker rooms and searched the space. They didn't find anything suspicious. The Michigan State Police technical unit and the canine unit also did a sweep inside the locker room and found nothing.
The locker rooms were deemed safe after that and were opened back up to students.
Officers used video surveillance from the school that they say clearly identifies the suspect. He was quickly arrested on a bond violation and parole detainer.
Investigators forensically searched the man's devices and didn't find any images of Mona Shores staff or students. They also searched the man's social media and didn't find any images of Mona Shores staff or students.
The Muskegon County Prosecutor's Office charged Percy-Lahaie on Jan. 18.
"When we talked about intent, we're talking about the person's state of mind," Hilson said of the charge against Lahaie. "I can't speculate as to, you know, what his intent was. I can only, based off of this pretty thorough police investigation and what we would intend then to show in court, what our theory of the intent purpose would be."
He was previously convicted in Ottawa County for capturing/distributing images of an unclothed person and a home invasion in Muskegon County.
Hilson says his office seeks to be able to charge the highest possible charges given the evidence they have.
"It's an individual who really had no business being at the school during after school hours, and used, I would say sort of surreptitious and nefarious ways to get in the building, and then being discovered in an area where he had no business being. All those things are alarm bells for me, as a father of a daughter, and also alarm bells as to making sure that we are able to charge the highest possible charge we could," said Hilson.
The school said as a result of this incident, they will continue to focus on key parts of their existing security plans at all schools, including the following:
- Reiterate, reteach, and remind students about the safety of not opening building doors for unknown individuals.
- Revisit protocols for staff, including after-school custodial, coaches, and co-curricular leads regarding safety protocols.
- Assess access to locker rooms and ensure consistent security/locking expectations.
- Ongoing security assessment and planning in collaboration with Norton Shores and Roosevelt Park Police Departments.
"Be assured this incident was certainly cause for alarm. Had students been in danger we would have taken different actions immediately. We are thankful for the quick action of Norton Shores Police, the Michigan State Police, and our MSMS Administrators to ensure that our schools were safe following this unlawful entry," Mona Shores Public Schools Superintendent Bill O’Brien said in a statement.
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