LANCASTER — A 25-year-old Lancaster man was arrested Thursday after being accused of groping several women over a two-day period at various locations in downtown Lancaster, according to Lancaster Police.
Tyrique Stelley has been charged with one count of unlawful restraint, one count of stalking, one count of indecent assault by forcible compulsion, and four counts of indecent assault without consent. All the charges are misdemeanors, police say.
Police began investigating Wednesday afternoon, when a victim approached a Lancaster Police officer at 3:19 p.m. and reported being assaulted while walking on the first block of North Duke Street. The victim told police that while she was walking in the area of North Duke and East Marion Streets, someone approached from behind and grabbed her buttocks. She turned to see a male suspect, later identified as Stelley, who left the scene.
At 3:54 p.m., police say, another victim approached an officer and reported a similar assault in the area of West Walnut Street and Lancaster Avenue. The woman said the suspect grabbed her around the waist from behind, cupped her breast, covered her mouth with his hand, and attempted to drag her to some nearby bushes. The victim said she broke free and fled, according to police.
On Thursday, police responded to the 600 block of College Avenue for the report of another assault. In this case, which police say occurred at approximately 12:44 p.m., the suspect approached a woman, grabbed her by the waist from behind, and thrust his pelvic area into her buttocks, police say. The victim told police the same suspect had assaulted her the previous day in the area of West Chestnut and North Christian streets at about 3:05 p.m. In that incident, the victim said the man grabbed her from behind, and when she turned around he spat at her and fled the scene, police say. The victim did not report the previous day’s incident until Thursday, according to police.
At 3:18 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report from a caller who said a man was acting suspiciously in the area of Penn Square. Police responded to the scene and detained the man, who they say matched the physical description of the suspect in the previous assault cases.
While police were on the scene at Penn Square, another woman approached an officer and reported that at about 4:07 p.m. on the previous day, she was walking on the first block of West Orange Street when the suspect grabbed her buttocks, police say. The victim did not report the incident at the time, according to police.
Police say they drove victims from the previous incidents to Penn Square, and all of them identified Stelley as the man who had committed the assaults on them.
Stelley was taken into custody, charged, and arraigned. He was committed to Lancaster County Prison in lieu of $200,000 bail.
Anyone with information on these incidents or any other similar incidents is asked to contact Lancaster City Police at 717-664-1180 (dispatch) or (717) 735-3300 (station).
