Man faces jail for indecent assault of shopper at King of Prussia Mall
COURTHOUSE PA Oct 1 2017 A man committed more than a fashion faux pas when he stuffed a sex toy in his “tight-fitting pants” to go shopping at the popular King of Prussia Mall.
Prosecutors said Gregory A. Keilar also indecently assaulted a female shopper while flaunting his lewd style of dress.
Now he’s banned from the mall and faces some time behind bars.
“It’s an enormous invasion of privacy. It was unexpected. She was shopping innocently enough at a mall and this guy comes up behind her and brushes up against her, clearly intentional,” Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Beeson said.
Kielar, 64, of the 2000 block of Spinnerstown Road, Milford Township, Bucks County, was sentenced to six to 23 months in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, to be followed by one year of probation, after he pleaded guilty to charges of indecent assault and defiant trespass in connection with the October 2015 incident at the mall in Upper Merion.
Judge Joseph P. Walsh, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, ordered Kielar to report to the jail on Oct. 20 to begin serving the sentence.
The judge further ordered Kielar to “stay away” from the mall and to have no contact with the two women who he targeted with his lewd behavior. According to court records, Kielar has previous convictions for indecent exposure dating back to 1987.
Beeson sought jail time against Kielar.
“(The victim) was doing nothing and a stranger comes up to her and rubs himself up against her in a wildly inappropriate way so we need to make sure people feel safe in public,” Beeson said.
The two women initially observed Kielar in a common area of the mall about 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16, describing him to police as 50 to 60 years old “with a bushy mustache, wearing a hat, sunglasses and dark colored tight-fitting pants,” according to the criminal complaint filed by Upper Merion Detective Andrew Rathfon.
A half-hour later the women spotted Kielar again inside the women’s apparel store where they were shopping. While the women browsed in the shop, Keilar passed behind one of the women and purposefully thrust his lower body against hers, according to the arrest affidavit.
As the women reported the conduct to a store employee, Kielar fled from the store, court papers indicate. Mall security officers attempted to stop Kielar as he ran toward a mall parking lot.
Police learned that Kielar was verbally warned on March 12, 2009, by Upper Merion police, “after being detained for his involvement in a similar incident,” that he was no longer permitted on King of Prussia Mall property.
When police initially interviewed Kielar about the most recent incident he admitted that he entered the women’s clothing store “wearing a rubber dildo under his pants” but he denied rubbing the sex toy against any woman.
But by pleading guilty to the charges, Kielar admitted that he had indecent contact with the victim without her consent.
Beeson alleged Kielar “clearly intended to have indecent contact with the woman.”
In addition to the jail term and being banned from the mall, Kielar has to undergo a psychosexual evaluation and comply with any recommendations for treatment, the judge said. Kielar also faces an evaluation by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which will determine if he meets criteria to be classified as a sexually violent predator.
Those classified as predators face more stringent restrictions under state law, including having to report their addresses to state police and community notification about their housing arrangements when they’re released from jail.
