UCSD Police apprehended a 21-year-old male non-affiliate on Feb. 12 who was believed to be responsible for the series of acts of lewd behavior in which the suspect approached female students for a foot massage and used the victims’ foot to rub himself in the groin area.
Officers arrested the suspect at the RIMAC lobby after a Physical Plant Services groundsperson reported seeing the man giving a female student a foot massage. The groundskeeper approached the student to inform her that he had recognized the suspect from a composite released by UCSD Police Department and printed in the Guardian.
According to crime prevention officers Alan Jenkins and Kristeen McCollough, the groundsperson saw the suspect was heading in the direction of RIMAC after leaving the student.
“He was not arrested at the scene, which is why he is not being identified, but he has been identified in a photo line-up by several of the victims,” McCollough said.
The suspect is not affiliated with UCSD and was ordered off campus for seven days. Multiple criminal charges are pending, according to Sgt. Robert Jones. Police officers said the man will be arrested if he returns to campus within the seven days.
Investigation is still underway and the police encourage students who have been approached by the man to report the incident by calling (858) 534-HELP.
Several of the victims were asked to identify the suspect from a photo lineup. According to Det. Nathaniel Floyd, all the victims were able to identify the man apprehended at RIMAC from five other photos that looked similar to the real photo.
The police department first received reports on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10 of a person approaching female students under the pretext that he was studying “foot reflexology.” The incidents occurred at three places including Revelle Plaza, Galbraith Hall and Lot 705.
Several incidents, some going no further than a normal foot massage, were reported to the police following the release of the composite.
Revelle College freshman Karen Rossmassler, who was approached by the man but declined the foot massage, said she plans to report the incident.
“He told me that he was doing some study on foot reflexology and he asked my height, weight and shoe size, and asked if he could take a look at the soles of my feet,” Rossmassler said. “… It seemed pretty legitimate — it’s not really unusual that someone comes up to you to ask questions, but it seemed a little strange in the back of my mind. I noticed that he didn’t have any papers with him, and you’d think that you would need to write something down if you were really doing a study, but he was polite about it.”
She said the man just looked like he was lost at first, and that afterward she felt it was a “little creepy.”
“It’s disturbing that something like this happened on campus, just because we think that our campus is generally safe,” Rossmassler said.
Jenkins said that this case was the most unique in his years of experience as a police officer, the closest being an incident involving the theft of womens’ shoes.
— Additional reporting by Gaëlle Faure, News Editor
