VERONA, Pa. — 11 Investigates has exclusively uncovered a disturbing update about a teenage worker allegedly fondled and groped by a customer.
Part of the incident was caught on surveillance video.
>> 11 Investigates: Turnpike Plaza teenage worker assaulted, suspect at large
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s office told Channel 11 Chief Investigator Rick Earle that they reviewed the video and other reports from police and have decided not to pursue any charges.
Earle also spoke with the victim’s mother, who is outraged by the decision.
“It just doesn’t make any sense to me. If you knew who did something like that why wouldn’t you prosecute them to prevent it from happening to somebody else? To me, it’s just like saying it’s okay. Let them go ahead and move on and do it to somebody else,” the mother said.
The mother is upset that the Allegheny County District Attorney won’t file charges and prosecute the stranger who allegedly groped and fondled her daughter in the middle of the day while working at the Oakmont Turnpike Plaza last summer.
A surveillance camera captured the man walking away from the teen, the teen alerting her coworkers and then confronting the man as he left the plaza.
Earle spoke with the 17-year-old victim when he broke the story in November.
“I was walking across the floor and then a man crossed my path and as he crosses my path he like groped me, or caressed my side. I was like yelling, so like, the other adults around can hear me. I’m like…this man just touched me. I’m saying all sorts of versions of that, like I just keep saying this man just touched me, y’all going to let him walk away. He just touched me,” said the teen.
To make matters even worse, the teen said her manager refused to call the police that day.
Her mother drove to the plaza and said the manager told her the same thing, that they couldn’t call the police.
Her mother had to call the police and they showed up at the plaza after the man had already left.
Pennsylvania State Police eventually identified the man.
Investigators said they forwarded the surveillance videos and the reports to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office.
The DA’s Chief of Staff sent us this statement regarding the investigation.
“The reports and video have been reviewed and we have not approved charges because the type of contact (touching) reported and shown in the video does not meet the legal requirements for an indecent assault charge,” said Rebecca Spangler, with the DA’s office.
The victim’s mother doesn’t agree with that assessment and believes the man should have been charged.
“I mean if you’re touching somebody that’s uninvited, so how is that not indecent? You don’t know that person. I mean he purposely grabbed her inappropriately. So that doesn’t make sense. And that’s not fair to my daughter or anybody else. You know that’s not right,” the victim’s mom said.
She said it was even more frustrating that Earle was the one who told her about the decision not to file any charges.
Earle: Did you ever hear from the police or the DA? Did they ever call you?
Mother: Never heard from the police after the day of the incident. Never heard from the DA. Didn’t hear anything from anybody else.
The family has hired an attorney and they are considering pursuing a civil case against the turnpike and the operator of the plaza.
The operator of the plaza never responded to our request for comment.
The Turnpike sent us a statement:
“The incident to which you refer is part of a criminal investigation that involves employees from our Service Plaza vendor, Applegreen USA. Therefore, the Commission cannot offer comment at this time. But, the safety, care and comfort of our colleagues and customers is a value and expectation we pass on to any vendor doing business with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.”
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