A 55-year-old Bainbridge Island man was charged with fourth-degree assault in Kitsap County District Court Wednesday after he allegedly couldn’t keep his hands off the rear end of a man who was walking along Winslow Way earlier this month.

Authorities also allege the Bainbridge man had grabbed the buttocks of an employee at a local hardware store a week earlier.

In that incident, the victim told police he was working at the store on Thursday, Oct. 27 when the Bainbridge man came in to buy lumber. At one point, the man allegedly told the employee, “You are gorgeous!”

The Bainbridge man returned to the hardware store later that day and handed the employee a book by Kurt Vonnegut. As he passed the employee the book, the man grabbed the employee by the buttocks and squeezed, the employee told police.

In the second incident, which happened Wednesday, Nov. 2, the victim said he had been walking past a restaurant downtown when the Bainbridge man grabbed his rear.

The victim quickly continued down the street and reported the assault at the Bainbridge police department.

Authorities said the Bainbridge man had engaged in the same sort of criminal behavior in the past.

Police discovered the Bainbridge man had approached a Seattle police officer who was on bicycle patrol in 1993 and grabbed the officer’s buttocks.

After the man was arrested, he allegedly told the officer that “he is cute — bicycle officers in their black tights look like football players you see on TV.”

The Bainbridge man was also charged with fourth-degree assault in that case.

Police also said the man was charged with fourth-degree assault in Bainbridge Island Municipal Court in March 2016 after he grabbed a 16-year-old teen by his rear end.

Authorities also found he had been disciplined in 1986 at Seattle Central Community College for patting or grabbing a male student’s buttocks.

The two most recent victims were shown the suspect’s photo in a photo montage, and both of the victims immediately pointed out the Bainbridge man as the one who had assaulted them.

Police contacted the man at his Bainbridge home Tuesday while he was doing yard work.

The man allegedly admitted to grabbing the other men, and said he had been sexually attracted to them “and was hoping that by touching them, that he would elicit a response welcoming some sort of relationship.”

The man also told police he knew it was wrong, but that he would continue to do it.

He also admitted that he had dropped off unsolicited letters to a man he was attracted to at a local hamburger restaurant.

Both of the recent victims said they wanted to pursue no-contact orders from court.

Authorities noted the Bainbridge man has a felony criminal record, and had been arrested earlier for attempting to elude authorities, and assault.

He was booked into Kitsap County Jail Wednesday for the two charges of fourth-degree assault (with sexual motivation). Both charges are criminal misdemeanors.

Bail was initially set at $10,000 but was raised to $20,000.

The Bainbridge man remained in jail earlier this week on a no-bail, misdemeanor charge of failure to appear in court/contempt of court.

Conviction of fourth-degree assault (with sexual motivation) can result in a maximum jail sentence of 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.