A 22-year-old man was arrested Friday after police said he masturbated while standing in line at an Old Navy store at Garden State Plaza in Bergen County, then tried to flee through the mall.
Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti said Samuel Omitiran, of Monroe, N.Y., was charged with sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child, lewdness and criminal sexual contact. The arrest came after security officers at the Westfield-Garden State Plaza Mall alerted police around 1:40 p.m. to an incident in progress inside the store, saying they had received multiple reports that a man was exposing himself to shoppers, including children.
Guards told police the man masturbated to ejaculation while standing on line before running out of the store. Sgt. Matt McGuire tracked the suspect through the mall into a parking lot, and Officer Don Liu saw him get into a car. Liu stopped the vehicle and arrested Omitiran without incident.
The incident unfolded in Paramus, in Bergen County, where police said the conduct involved shoppers, including children, who were exposed to it inside the busy shopping center. Omitiran was taken to the Bergen County Jail to await his first court appearance.
The case now moves to court, where prosecutors will have to show how the conduct inside a crowded mall store fits the charges filed against him. For the people who were there Friday, the arrest ended the immediate scene, but it did not erase what police said happened in the store line at Garden State Plaza.
