New Jersey Man Faces Charges After Allegedly Groping Easter Bunny at Pennsylvania Mall

A 36-year-old man is facing a serious charge of indecent assault after allegedly groping a woman working as the Easter Bunny at a shopping mall in Pennsylvania.Bera Shivakrishna, a resident of Jersey City, New Jersey, was arrested and charged with indecent assault following an unsettling incident at the South Hills Village Mall in the Pittsburgh area. According to a criminal complaint, the disturbing encounter unfolded last month while the victim was posing for holiday photos with children and their families, CBS Pittsburgh reported.Authorities say Mr. Shivakrishna approached the woman in the Easter Bunny costume and immediately began asking her inappropriate, sexually suggestive questions. Uncomfortable with the interaction, the woman instructed the man to speak with her nearby assistant.Instead of complying, Mr. Shivakrishna allegedly escalated his behavior. He refused to step away and began touching the woman’s arm before moving to the top of her chest. According to the victim’s statement to police, he then grabbed her breasts with both hands. The costume character’s assistant told authorities that prior to the physical assault, Mr. Shivakrishna explicitly asked, “Is it a boy or a girl?”The bizarre encounter did not stop there. Witnesses reported that Mr. Shivakrishna also put his fingers into the nose and mouth of the oversized bunny costume, further harassing the worker inside.Following the incident, the victim and a witness alerted mall security and local law enforcement. Police reviewed the mall’s security surveillance footage, which they say showed a man grabbing the chest area of the Easter Bunny costume. Using the video evidence, officers began a search of the premises.Mr. Shivakrishna was eventually tracked down next door at the mall’s AMC Theater. Officers found him asleep in the top row of one of the auditoriums. As he was being taken into custody, he seemed confused about the nature of the costume. According to the criminal complaint obtained by WPXI, he asked the arresting officers, “Is it on the close [sic] to Five Below, the merchandise thing, the bunny?”After police read him his rights, Mr. Shivakrishna questioned the reality of the situation, asking, “It’s a doll, right?”When officers informed him that there was a person inside the costume and that it was not a doll or a prop to be groped, the suspect attempted to excuse his actions. “By mistake, my hand touched her, if it’s a lady,” he allegedly admitted to the police. The case recently moved forward in court, where Mr. Shivakrishna faced a judge for his preliminary hearing at the Bethel Park Magistrate. The victim took the witness stand, tearfully recalling the ordeal and telling the judge that she was paralyzed with fear during the assault.While a public defender representing Mr. Shivakrishna argued that her client was merely trying to grab the costume’s bow tie, the victim stood firm in her testimony that he was intentionally touching and grabbing her chest. After reviewing the security footage and hearing the emotional testimony, the judge ruled that the case against Mr. Shivakrishna for indecent assault will proceed to trial. No date has yet been set.

New Jersey Man Faces Charges After Allegedly Groping Easter Bunny at Pennsylvania Mall

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