A Seymour man faces three charges after police say he inappropriately touched a 15-year-old girl in a walk-in cooler at the convenience store where he worked.
Amandeep “Armani” Singh, 33, a clerk and part-owner of the newly reopened Citgo station at 829 N. Ewing St., was arrested Friday by Seymour police on two Level 5 felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and one Level 6 felony count of criminal confinement.
The alleged incident took place Nov. 27 after the girl walked to the gas station to buy a drink for a family member, police said.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed Monday in Jackson Circuit Court by Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Chalfant, the girl purchased the drink, left and then returned around 10 p.m.
She told police she walked to the back of the store the second time to get a fountain soda, but the machine was out of ice. At that point, Singh got a bag of ice and asked her to follow him to the back of the cooler, according to court records.
She told police she followed him because he was a friend of the family and she thought he just wanted to talk, Officer John Watson said.
At that point, the girl said Singh began kissing and fondling her, according to court documents.
The victim told police she tried to get away by telling Singh she needed to go home and didn’t want to engage in that kind of activity with him.
When she tried to pull away, the girl told police Singh would not let her go, and he told her it didn’t matter because “she did not have a boyfriend.”
The victim told police Singh then exposed himself and forced her to fondle him. According to court records, the girl told Singh she had to leave and pushed him away, at which time he warned her not to tell anyone.
On Friday, police executed a search warrant at the gas station for video surveillance and questioned Singh, who denied the allegations, police said.
Police were able to obtain surveillance video from the store, and it showed Singh enter the cooler with the girl behind him.
Watson said they were in the cooler for a few minutes, and when the victim came out, her body language was different and showed she was upset.
Singh told officers he had been accused of similar crimes in 2012 and moved out of Seymour to stay out of trouble. He recently moved back to the area to open the convenience store, he said.
While being interviewed, Singh told police the girl is like “a daughter” and he “would never do a thing to hurt her,” according to court records. He also said he didn’t know why she would accuse him of such an act.
Singh told police he couldn’t remember what happened that night, and Watson said he gave conflicting statements about when the store closed, first saying it closed at 10 p.m. and then changing the time to 11 or 11:30 p.m.
Singh was booked into the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown at 4:03 p.m. Friday and is currently being held without bond pending his initial hearing.