Bartlett man charged in Bloomingdale exposure cases

A pair of observant co-workers helped police crack the case of a man who exposed himself to women outside Stratford Square Mall in Bloomingdale at least twice since September, authorities said Wednesday.

James A. Marre, 40, of Bartlett, is facing felony and misdemeanor charges of public indecency stemming from complaints on Sept. 21 and April 12. A DuPage County grand jury indicted him Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Bloomingdale police arrested Marre last month after he pulled an older model Cadillac alongside a woman walking in the mall parking lot about 1 p.m. and asked for directions, Investigations Cmdr. Tim Roberts said. When the woman looked into the car, he said, she saw Marre exposing himself.

Roberts said the April 12 victim, who works at the mall, jotted down the offender’s license plate number as he left the scene. Investigators soon realized some details of the incident were identical to those of a Sept. 21 complaint, which had been reported by the more recent victim’s co-worker but without a plate number. Both are in their 20s and work in the same store in the mall, authorities said.

Police said Marre, of the 100 block of Morse Avenue, later accompanied them voluntarily to the mall, where the April victim identified him as the offender. Roberts said the earlier victim separately identified him in a photo lineup, leading to charges in both cases.

“It was some pretty heads-up work by the officers and the detectives here,” he said. “All the retail areas are very important for our economic sustainability these days. This guy was victimizing people who weren’t doing anything wrong, and we were happy to make an arrest and close both cases. We want people to feel safe when they shop here.”

Court records show Marre twice pleaded guilty to misdemeanor public indecency in DuPage in the 1990s. Further details on those cases weren’t immediately available, but authorities said the prior convictions allowed them to charge Marre with a felony rather than a misdemeanor in one of the latest complaints.

Authorities said Marre told police a medical condition caused him to expose himself. Defense attorney Salvatore Miglore confirmed that, adding that his client “maintains his innocence at this point.”

Marre is due before Judge John Kinsella on May 24, when he is expected to seek permission to leave the state next month for a preplanned family vacation in Florida, according to a court filing. He remains free on bond.