A court in California sentenced 39-year-old Kales Crowder, known for numerous arrests for attempting to sniff the buttocks of strangers in public places, to 170 days in prison, reports the New York Post (NYP). A registered sex offender who has previously been arrested more than 40 times has been found to have violated parole rules.
In August 2026, police in Glendale, California received several reports of a suspicious man crouching next to customers and approaching them to sniff them. The first call came on August 28 from one of the supermarkets, KABC reports.
The second message came a few hours later from another department store. Investigators reviewed surveillance footage from both stores and identified the suspect as Crowder. He was soon detained and arrested on suspicion of violating his parole.
A sex offender dubbed the “Butt Sniffer” is sentenced to county jail. https://t.co/WuaNs4lx94
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) September 8, 2026
KABC obtained surveillance video from the Big Sav Discount Store showing a man crouching next to an employee stocking shelves. Store manager Jimmy Ko told the TV channel that this was the third such incident. According to him, Crowder “as usual” crouches down, looks around and “trying to seize a moment to smell someone's butt.”
As Fox News clarifies, at a court hearing on Tuesday, September 8, the judge ruled that the man actually violated the terms of his parole. In addition to the 170 days in jail, he is now prohibited from going near Marshalls, HomeGoods and Big Sav stores in Glendale.
Taking into account the 12 days of pre-trial detention he has served, he will be released in a few months and will again be placed under supervision, the TV channel adds. Supporters of tougher penalties criticized the sentence as too lenient, calling it the latest episode in the “revolving door” of the California justice system, NYP said. Crowder served 99 days in prison at the end of 2025, 105 days at the beginning of 2026.
According to police, the history of similar offenses by Crowder in Glendale and Burbank stretches back to 2021, KESQ adds.
So, in 2023, a man was arrested for peeping through the window of a Glendale house. That same year, Michaela Witter posted a video on TikTok that racked up millions of views, showing Crowder crouching behind her at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Burbank and trying to smell her from behind.
In July 2025, Crowder was arrested at the Nordstrom Rack department store in Burbank for harassing a female customer in the women's department, and a month later for a similar incident at a Walgreens store.
