Police announced the arrest of a 26-year-old Sayreville man accused of exposing himself last Saturday to several juveniles at the city library.
Police responded to the Linden Public Library, located at 31 E. Henry Street, at approximately 1 p.m. after a man reportedly entered the library and went over to the Children’s Reading section where he exposed himself to the youngsters.
According to police, the man then fled the library on a bicycle after being confronted by library staff. Officers checked the area but were unable to locate him.
Detectives from the Juvenile Bureau reviewed video surveillance footage from the library’s cameras and distributed a still image of the suspect to area law enforcement agencies.
A detective from the Rahway Police Department recognized the suspect and provided the information to investigators. The video also showed that there were two additional juvenile females that were not in the original report.
Detective Keith Milos obtained an arrest warrant for Ruiz and a team of officers fanned out on Tuesday looking for him at several addresses, according to authorities.
Ruiz was later located and taken into custody at his relative's Sayreville residence.
Ruiz was brought back to Linden headquarters where he was charged with sexual assault, criminal sexual contact, four counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and four counts of lewdness.
He is being held at the Union County Jail in lieu of $400,000 bail pending a court date next week.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Milos at 908-474-8421.