WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - A 75-year-old Worcester man appeared in court Thursday after he was accused of touching a child inappropriately in the area of Coes Pond.
Worcester police in a statement said officers responded to the scene on Wednesday after receiving a report of an adult male “behaving inappropriately toward a child.”
Once on scene, police said, officers learned a child had been touched by an “older male.” Three other men interrupted the incident and followed the man to another location, where they called police.
Worcester police said the man, later identified as Hamid Shabeeb, had been the subject of multiple complaints from residents alleging similar incidents. Police said he also had an active arrest warrant for a similar offense.
Shabeeb was charged with indecent assault on a child under 15 in this case. He had a not guilty plea entered on his behalf and is due back in court on Friday for a mental competency hearing after his attorney argued his dementia means he cannot properly understand the charges against him.
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