A 22-year-old Monroe, New York, man was arrested Friday at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus after police said shoppers inside an Old Navy store reported that he exposed himself and masturbated while standing in line.
Paramus police identified the man as Samuel Omitiran and said officers were alerted around 1:40 p.m. to an incident in progress inside the store. Multiple reports indicated that the conduct involved shoppers, including children, before the suspect fled the store and moved through the mall.
Police said they tracked Omitiran through the shopping center and into the parking lot, where a patrolman saw him getting into a vehicle in an apparent attempt to leave. Officers stopped the vehicle and arrested him without incident. He was charged with sexual assault, endangering the welfare of children, lewdness and criminal sexual contact.
The case centers on one of the mall’s busiest shopping areas, inside the Old Navy at Westfield Garden State Plaza, where police say the incident unfolded in front of customers and escalated quickly enough to trigger an immediate response. Omitiran was taken to the Bergen County Jail pending his first court appearance.
The arrest closes the first phase of the case, but the charges now move it into court, where the allegations involving children and public exposure will be tested against the evidence police say they gathered Friday.
