Another girl groped in Princeton on Tuesday

Yet another girl has been groped by a man while walking in Princeton. On Tuesday just before 3 p.m., police received a report that in unidentified man had grabbed the buttocks of a 15-year-old girl who was walking on Linden Lane near Hawthorne Avenue.

More than a dozen similar groping incidents have been reported in Princeton since 2014. In all of the cases, the man approached the pre-teen, teen or young woman from behind and grabbed her buttocks or breasts. The descriptions of the man are similar.

The man who groped the girl on Tuesday was described as a 5’6″ tall with a stocky build. He was estimated to be about 40 years old with tan skin and short brown hair. The victim reported that the suspect was wearing long pants and a raincoat that was an army green color. The man fled on foot and headed north on Linden Lane.

The Princeton Police Department believes the Tuesday incident is related to the other incidents that have occurred in the past in the same area of town.

Readers whose daughters or granddaughters were groped in the past told Planet Princeton the incidents made the girls afraid to walk in town or in their neighborhoods alone. In some cases the incidents deeply affected the girls, parents said. One reader said in his relative’s case back in 2014, a middle-aged man with developmental disabilities was identified as the perpetrator, but was never charged. In that incident, officials tried to broker a deal where the man and his family would meet with the girl to apologize and explain what happened. But the girl did not want to meet with the man. It is unclear whether that incident is related to the others, but the descriptions of the man from the other incidents are similar to that 2014 incident.

Anyone who witnessed the Tuesday event, can identity the suspect, or has home video cameras in the area is asked to contact Det. Sgt. Ben Gering of the Princeton Police Department at (609) 921-2100 ext. 1840 or bgering@princetonnj.gov.