The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
A man allegedly offering unwanted foot massages to women in several parts of the township has been caught, police said.
Lawrence Malapitan, 19, of Monmouth Junction, was arrested on Aug. 3 after he had allegedly spent the summer offering foot massages to random women, including lifeguards at Society Hill pools, police said.
Malapitan was also charged with harassment by South Brunswick police for a similar incident, in which he abruptly started giving a foot massage to a female lifeguard at the Nassau Square clubhouse pool on Route 27.
The township incidents began on June 30, when police responded to a Sapphire Lane home. The female resident told police that she found a penciled note under the windshield wiper of her car stating that the writer wished to give her a foot massage, according to a press release from township police.
The note, which was signed, “Lives in the neighborhood,” included two checkboxes for “yes” and “no,” and the woman was instructed to leave the note under a rock.
Throughout July, township police responded to several complaints throughout Society Hill of an individual offering foot massages to lifeguards at various pools, according to the release. The suspect, a man, was always gone before police arrived.
That changed on July 24, when police responded to a similar call at the Society Hill II pool and were able to ascertain that the suspect was Malapitan.
Police went to Malapitan’s Monmouth Junction home and told him that Society Hill pools were private property, and that he should stop offering people foot massages, according to the release.
On Aug. 3, an 18-year-old lifeguard at the Society Hill I pool reported that a man fitting Malapitan’s description approached her as she was setting up her station and started asking her “strange” questions.
The man asked the woman if she wanted a foot massage, after which the lifeguard told him to leave the area.
During this time, township police received a report from South Brunswick police about a man massaging a lifeguard’s feet at the Nassau Square pool, according to the release. The officers went to Malapitan’s house, where they were told he was not at home.
A family member called Malapitan and told him to come home immediately, where he was taken into custody without incident, according to the release.
Malapitan was charged with harassment, defiant trespass and lewdness, according to the release. He was released from Somerset County Jail, Somerville, on Aug. 4 after posting $2,500 cash bail.
