THE NYPD IS asking for the public’s help identifying and locating the person seen in this video who they say is wanted in connection with a groping incident that occurred inside Fordham Road subway station serving the 4 train in Fordham Manor on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.  Video courtesy of the NYPD

 

Police said that on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at around 8.30 p.m., at the Fordham Road subway station serving the  4 train, a 30-year-old female victim was approached by an unidentified individual while walking on the mezzanine.

 

They said the suspect grabbed the victim’s buttocks and then fled on foot, exiting the train station and traveling eastbound on Fordham Road to parts unknown. They said the victim was not physically injured as a result of the incident.

 

Police said the suspect is described as male, has a medium complexion, a slim build and is around 30 to 40 years old. They said he was last seen wearing a black coat, a yellow, hooded sweatshirt, black sneakers, and blue sweatpants with a white stripe.

Though groping (and upskirting i.e. covertly taking photos/videos up a woman’s skirt, in public) might be regarded by some as trivial offenses, in 2024, as reported by Channel 4 News and other media outlets, a police investigation which ultimately led to the conviction of now infamous, French serial rapist, Dominique Pelicot, for the repeated rape, while drugged, of his now-72-year-old ex-wife, Gisèle Pelicot, by Dominique Pelicot and his 72 accomplices over the course of 10 years, was triggered when he was seen upskirting various women inside the supermarket by a security guard who convinced the fourth upskirting victim to press charges against him.

 

The case and his conviction in the small town of Mazan in the south of France last year garnered international media attention, and he is now being investigated for other brutal sexual assaults as well as the unsolved murder of another French woman, decades earlier. Certain photos of his daughter, who says she has no knowlege of the photos in question being taken, were also found on Dominique Pelicot’s computer by police. Though, as above, he has been found guilty of raping his wife, he is presumed innocent of the referenced separate and subsequent crimes involving other victims unless and until convicted in a court of law.

 

It’s been reported that some of the 72 defendants in the case said they did not believe they were raping Gisèle Pelicot, and even though consent is widely considered a legal requirement to engage in sexual activity, because she was unconscious, the question of whether consent was given was reportedly more difficult to prove in court.

Anyone with information regarding this groping incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.

 

All calls are strictly confidential.