Julia Marquand, 28, took a photo of the man who grabbed her in downtown Seattle, also filing a police report on the matter.
But feeling that the policewoman who took down the report hadn’t taken her seriously enough, Marquand uploaded the photo to Facebook and Twitter, writing: ‘This dude groped me in Seattle yesterday. Cops didn’t want the pic.’
Within a few hours of taking action on social media, Seattle Police assigned a detective to the case, who found the alleged groper to be a convicted sex offender.
Described as a Level 3 sex offender - who are categorised as having a high risk of re-offending, the man was taken to King County Jail for violation of his Corrections supervision.
‘Finally being a loud mouth paid off’ Julia told a local newspaper.
The woman told of how she shouted at the man initially, who ‘nervously’ walked away from her, apologising.
‘He looked terrified and ashamed, which is exactly what I hoped he would be feeling’ she said.
However, sadly several twitter users have attacked Julia on social media for her post, with one writing: ‘She’s a whore/hippie who deserves a good hard rape to teach her….’
Julie replied politely: ‘I don’t negotiate with internet trolls.’