Man jailed for groping woman in a store

NORRISTOWN » A Philadelphia man faces some time behind bars for groping the buttocks of a female shopper at a Willow Grove store.

Eric Graham, 28, of the 100 block of Herman Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to nine to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault and stalking in connection with the Nov. 17, 2017, incident at the Marshall’s store in the Willow Grove section of Upper Moreland.

Judge William R. Carpenter, who accepted a plea agreement in the matter, also ordered Graham to complete five years’ probation following parole, meaning Graham will be under court supervision for about seven years. The judge ordered that Graham be evaluated for sex offender supervision and he ordered Graham to have no contact with the victim.

An investigation began about 8:20 p.m. when Upper Moreland police were dispatched to the Marshall’s store in the 100 block of Park Avenue for a report of an indecent assault. The victim told police she was shopping in the shoe aisle when a male shopper, subsequently identified as Graham, moved closer to her to engage her in conversation. When the woman moved to another aisle, Graham followed her and touched her buttocks as he passed her, according to the criminal complaint.

“She remembered thinking that it was strange because there was plenty of room for him to walk by her without making contact with her. She recalled that the subject walked away very fast,” Upper Moreland Detective John J. Schramm alleged in the arrest affidavit.

The victim told police she continued to look at shoes and noticed Graham return to the store aisle. At that time, Graham allegedly told the woman he was looking for shoes for his wife.

“When she was walking out of the aisle, she passed the subject and he grabbed her right buttock. She tried to grab his jacket but he ran out of the store,” Schramm alleged, adding the woman chased the man but he got away. “(The victim) stated that she felt violated because the subject touched her buttocks without her permission.”

Detectives obtained video surveillance footage from the store and shared it with a crime sharing network. Four days after the incident, a witness notified police that he recognized the suspect as being Graham, according to the criminal complaint.

The victim later viewed a police photo array and positively identified Graham as the man who grabbed her in the indecent manner.