What to Know
- A mother chased a man who allegedly groped her daughter in a department store in NJ over the weekend -- and recorded him
- Cops arrested the suspect -- a 53-year-old from Bergenfield -- days later on a single charge of criminal sexual contact
- They say they used the mother's video of the man to identify him
A 53-year-old New Jersey man has been arrested on a sex-crime charge after he allegedly groped a young woman's buttocks as she was shopping with her mother in a Marshalls department store over the weekend.
Paramus police say the 19-year-old woman and her mom were in the store late afternoon Saturday when Edward Evans, of Bergenfield, allegedly grabbed the young woman as she was checking out shoes. The victim told her mother, who called 911 and chased the suspect out of the store while recording him on her phone.
The 5-foot-1, 120-pound woman is heard shouting at the man, "Keep your hands to yourself. Don't touch my daughter!"
Cops used the mother's video to identify Evans as the suspect.
"It was the crux of the case," said Paramus Det. Jeff Lattanzi. "The video was crystal clear. She did what she needed to do to protect her daughter and was far enough away from the suspect, with the peace of mind that police were already on their way. She never got involved to the point where she was in any danger."
He was arrested on Wednesday on a single charge of criminal sexual contact and remanded pending his first judicial hearing. A date for that wasn't immediately clear.
Evans was arrested in Dumont two years ago for touching a woman's buttocks in the supermarket, according to authorities. It wasn't immediately known if Evans had an attorney who could comment on the allegations.
