A Framingham, Massachusetts, man has been arrested and charged with indecent assault and battery after police say a customer claimed he rubbed her foot in a sexual manner without her permission.
Semih Orge, 31, was arrested by Natick police on Monday evening.
Orge, an employee at the virtual reality kiosk at the mall, said rubbing and stroking a customer's foot is part of the virtual reality experience, but police said he was committing an indecent assault.
The woman told police she and her boyfriend had decided to try out the virtual experience kiosk near the food court. She said she became suspicious of Orge as soon as she put on the virtual reality glasses.
″(She) stated that Orge starting touching her feet in a way that reminded her of ‘someone with a foot fetish,’” the police report says.
According to the report, Orge also kept running his hands up her legs and attempted to move her purse, which the victim said she had placed on her lap to keep people from looking up her skirt.
After learning that Orge had only touched her during the incident, the woman and her boyfriend reported it to mall security.
When questioned by police, Orge claimed he had only patted the woman's leg and skirt to make sure no one could see up her skirt. He claimed touching her foot was part of the virtual reality experience, but could not answer why he only did it to the woman and not her boyfriend.
Orge was arrested and charged with indecent assault and battery on a person older than 14.
He posted $2,500 bail after his arrest and surrendered his passport to the court on Monday. The prosecution did not request any additional bail.
Orge's lawyer said his client is hoping to leave the U.S. in two weeks to return to Turkey, but the judge did not return his passport.
Orge is due back in court on June 18 for a pre-trial conference.
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