APD arrests man accused of exposing himself to children, filming women in stores

Albuquerque police arrested a man Monday on suspicion of flashing children and recording women in dressing rooms during a string of incidents at retail stores around the city last week.

Timothy Riha, 45, was charged with one count of aggravated indecent exposure and one count of voyeurism in the fourth degree after a social media post depicting Riha inside a Target off I-25 and the Coronado Mall exposing himself went viral. APD detectives tracked Riha to a gym parking lot in Rio Rancho before arresting him. Additional charges for Sunday’s incidents are expected to be added at a later date, the police said.

The arrest comes after four incidents of indecent exposure where Riha allegedly exposed himself or filmed young girls in changing rooms in just one week.

Some of the incidents were collected by thehotspot_.abq on Instagram, and that post went viral Monday morning, though police had already begun the search for Riha by that time.

After his arrest, police walked Riha past a group of reporters outside of the department’s Downtown headquarters. While walking him to a patrol car, his pants fell to his ankles. Riha claimed he was not guilty of any alleged crimes and said “I like to try on girls clothes, I didn’t know that was a crime,” before claiming he was going to “turn into a girl” while being walked by police.

Aggravated indecent exposure and voyeurism (victim under 18) are fourth-degree felonies that could lead to 18-month prison terms and the court can run the charges consecutively, according to Nancy Laflin, a spokeswoman for the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

On May 12, Riha entered the H&M at the Coronado Mall and went to the fitting rooms of the store, where he began masturbating in front of a 7-year-old girl and her mother, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Riha left the fitting room after the mother confronted him and called police, according to the complaint.

Before entering H&M, Riha is accused of “recording another young woman while in the fitting room” of Hollister at the mall as she was trying on a bathing suit, the complaint said. The 18-year-old woman said that she saw someone filming her as she was changing, but she didn’t open the curtain to look at him because she was undressed, according to the complaint.

Surveillance video indicates the suspect at Hollister was the same man at the H&M store, according to police.

Video footage shows Riha exiting the mall in a 2018 blue Mazda after leaving the H&M store.

Later that same evening, police said Riha was at the Target at 6100 Paseo Del Norte NE — 15 minutes away from the Coronado Mall — and recorded a 17-year-old girl trying on clothes in a fitting room. Video footage from the Target shows Riha walking back and forth from the fitting room area, according to police.

An Albuquerque Metro Crime Stoppers bulletin issued on Monday said that on Thursday, Riha also exposed himself to a woman at the Famous Footwear at the Cottonwood Mall.

The complaint said the vehicle’s California license plate showed the vehicle belonged to Riha’s wife and APD detectives believe Riha drove the vehicle from California to New Mexico, Gilbert Gallegos, a police spokesman, said in a news release. He said additional charges could be filed.

Riha currently has a similar case against him in California, Gallegos said.