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Walmart Child Predator News Presser

Updated: Wednesday, November 28 2012, 08:06 PM EST

The man police say stalked a young girl inside the Waynesville Walmart and tried to sexually assault her is behind bars. Investigators say the registered sex offender has done this before.

48-year-old Ryan Davis from Candler is now in jail. Police say they caught him on surveillance video stacking up boxes to hide his victim.

According to his criminal record, Davis did exactly the same thing at stores in Hendersonville, including Walmart and Kmart around the holidays in 1999. In 2000, he was sentenced to six years in jail.

This past Saturday, Waynesville police say he struck again by trying to lure an 11-year-old girl into a makeshift hide-a-way he built out of boxes inside the Walmart store. They say he told the girl he was a security guard, that he suspected her of stealing something. He then told her she had to take her clothes off. This is precisely what he did a dozen years ago. The little girl did the right thing and said “no” and ran to her mother.

Police say getting the surveillance footage out to the public yielded tips that led to the arrest of Ryan Davis Tuesday night at his home in Candler. Some calls came from family members of prior victims.

Davis had entered the Walmart and left with a woman with red hair, but police say they have no evidence about her and she's not facing any charges.

Davis remains at the Haywood County Detention Center charged with assault on a child under 12, 2nd degree kidnapping, indecent liberties with a child, and misdemeanor stalking. He’s being held under $100,000 bond. Davis has a court appearance scheduled for December 5th.

By Rex Hodge