An Ohio man who police said has a foot fetish was arrested and charged with gross sexual imposition for allegedly asking young girls to perform gymnastics exercises inside area libraries.
Lester Stanley DeBoard Jr., 35, faces one count of gross sexual imposition for an incident Feb.15 in the Worthington Public Library, Worthington police said. Police had staked out DeBoard's home and arrested DeBoard outside the Eldorado Food and Spirits after a tip from a patron.
"He ducked out the back door and tried to hide,'' Lt. Robert Oppenheimer said. DeBoard also has been connected with similar incidents throughout other counties, police said.
Three different victims identified DeBoard from a photo array, police said.
DeBoard has been linked to at least six incidents at two libraries the past 17 months, all of them involving girls ages 11-14, police said. His behavior has become stranger and more aggressive. "He has some perversions,'' police said.
Five incidents took place at the Worthington Public Library, Sept. 28, 1998, and Feb. 15. One occurred at the Bexley Public Library in October.
The man usually struck up a conversation with a young girl who was alone in the library and asked her to follow him to a secluded part of the building, police said. He talked about gymnastics and asked the girl to perform moves such as the butterfly position.
"He asked one girl to take off her shoes so he could trace her feet,'' police said. Several victims reported being touched in the feet and legs or said the man looked up their skirt. "He told one girl she needed to exercise more,'' police said.
In the Feb. 15 case, there was other physical contact, poice said, but they would not elaborate. In the most recent incident, the 11-year-old girl said she complied because she felt scared and intimidated. Library administrators documented the incidents, but many of them weren't reported to police initially because they didn't seem to be crimes at first.
"This person didn't look like he was using the library for the purposes it is intended. He was wandering around a lot,'' said Bob Cull, director of the Bexley Public Library. "I followed him and let him know that it would be a good idea not to come back, and I told him if he came back, I would call the police.''
The man's behavior was inappropriate, said Meribah Mansfield, director of the Worthington Public Library. Police have contacted other libraries that have reports of similar incidents. Investigators so far have seen a connection only between the Bexley and Worthington libraries. DeBoard's description is similar to that of a man who was staring at children on Feb. 25 at the Columbus Metropolitan Library's Southeast branch, library director Larry Black said. The man walked into the branch and started at children for the better part of the day, he said.
"We questioned him about it, and he never came back,'' Black said.
