Man Charged with Groping Young Girl at Gas Station

NEW PALESTINE, Ind. — A Greenfield man has been charged with felony sexual misconduct after an encounter between him and a 14-year-old girl at a gas station was caught on camera.

Police in New Palestine were called to the gas station on US 52 late last month for a report of a disturbance. Officers found the caller in a McDonald’s bathroom next door. She said she had been groped by a drunken, unknown man.

Officers then located a man that fit the description given by the young girl. The suspect was identified as Kalebe Mmangyu, 23, who resides in Greenfield.

The officers said they shouted at Mmangyu several times to get on the ground but he did not comply because he didn’t fully understand English. It was later determined that Mmangyu primarily spoke Swahili.

Court documents said Mmangyu’s eyes were “bloodshot and glossy” and he had poor balance. Officers ended up finding small bottles of alcohol in his pocket. A preliminary breath test also returned a .203 BAC result.

Officers at the scene were then able to review security footage from inside the gas station which corroborates with the victim’s account of the entire incident. She said the man stood behind her in line for the cashier and ended up grabbing her wrist, forearm and then her breast and buttocks.

Then, when the young girl and her friend tried to leave the gas station, Mmangyu and his friends blocked the exit. The girl said she and her friend eventually were able to leave. That’s when they ran to the McDonald’s close by, locked themselves in a bathroom and called 911.

Mmangyu has been booked into the Hancock County Jail on a $50,000 surety bond. He’s officially charged with public intoxication and sexual misconduct with a minor – a level 5 felony. A pretrial conference for Mmangyu is scheduled for July 30.