Police say Hartford man exposed himself at EH hotel, punched security guard
East Hartford CT June 27 2019
A Hartford man is accused of exposing himself to a child at an East Hartford hotel earlier this month, then punching a security guard who confronted him and stealing the man’s hat, according to police.
The man, Marcus Hodges, 31, was charged June 15 with second-degree larceny, third-degree robbery, third-degree assault, risk of injury to a child, public indecency, first-degree criminal trespass, and interfering with an emergency call.
Hodges was also charged with violation of probation in an unrelated case that involved charges of threatening and interfering with police, and first-degree criminal mischief after he destroyed a sprinkler in his cell at the East Hartford Police Department.
He is being held today in pretrial detention in lieu of bonds totaling $170,000 at the Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown. He is scheduled to return to Manchester Superior Court on July 12.
Hodges has another case pending from May when he was charged with breach of peace and public indecency in Plainville. He is scheduled to return to Bristol Superior Court on Friday in that case.
The East Hartford police report supporting his most recent arrest provides the following details: On June 15, around 9:30 p.m., police were called to the Hampton Inn, at 351 Ptikin St.
A security guard working at the hotel told officers that he had been assaulted. He was on a perimeter check, he said, when he saw a man, later identified as Hodges, standing near the windows of the indoor swimming pool. The guard said he asked Hodges if he needed any help, and Hodges became aggressive.
Hodges said something like, “what are you going to do,” according to the guard.
Then, when the guard pulled out his cellphone to call police, Hodges knocked it out of his hand and punched him in the face, the guard reported.
Police converging in the area located Hodges on the property of the Holiday Inn at 100 East River Drive, less than a mile away, standing near the windows to the hotel’s pool and wearing the security guard’s hat.
Hodges told police that he had assaulted the guard because the guard had exposed himself to a girl in the pool.
However, police soon learned that Hodges was the one who exposed himself.
A tourist staying at the Hampton Inn hotel reported that she and her daughter had been in the pool area when Hodges walked up to the windows. The woman said that her daughter told her how Hodges touched himself, exposed himself to her, and made several sexual gestures as he stood outside the windows.
journalinquirer.com
