A man claiming a dandruff problem attempted to lure two Sally Beauty Supply employees to the back of the store after allegedly exposing himself to women working at the neighboring Payless ShoeSource at Marcus Plaza in Norwich late Friday morning.

Sophia Pina was working at the beauty supply store when she said a short, white man asked for her help finding something in the back. He had been in the store about twenty minutes earlier but then left before returning, she said.

“He was already shaking when I showed him the dandruff shampoo,” Pina said, which she got from an aisle near the front to avoid going too far from the front desk and the security camera with its video feed visible from behind the counter.

She said his oily black hair made his story plausible, but co-worker LaToya Williams had a different theory.

“I think it was wet from sweat,” Williams said.

Pina said his nervous demeanor first led her to believe he was going to steal something. She also said he kept putting his hands in his bubble jacket, which made her wonder if he might be concealing a weapon.

The employees' move toward the phone prompted the man to leave the store, Pina said.

Williams then called the police, she said, and officers from the Norwich Police Department responded almost immediately. Employees from the shoe store had called the police first after the man allegedly exposed himself, according to Williams.

An employee at Payless ShoeSource had no comment, citing both company policy and an active police investigation.

Authorities could be seen with a handcuffed man in front of the Chase Manor Apartments, which is the direction in which Pina said she saw the suspect walking after he left the store.

Norwich Police Department has not yet identified a suspect.

Over at Sally Beauty Supply, Pina and Williams said they were spared any evidence of what they heard happened next door. “We saw him, but we didn’t ‘see’ him,” Pina said.