By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — A man accused of repeatedly groping an 11-year-old girl who was shopping with her mother at the Herald Square JC Penny store was arraigned on sex abuse and child endangerment charges on Tuesday.
Nikolaos Willmore, 44, allegedly approached the child from behind and grabbed her "three of four times" over her shorts at the Manhattan Mall on Saturday, prompting the child and parent to scream and draw the attention of a store manager who trailed Willmore out of the store and onto Sixth Avenue, prosecutors said.
Willmore allegedly fled the employee, but police used store surveillance video and eyewitness accounts to identify him and track him to his Morningside Heights apartment, where they arrested him on Monday, according to the DA.
The suspect was convicted several years ago of an armed assault in Massachusetts and has been arrested in Minnesota, according to prosecutors.
He reportedly received a PhD from Columbia University and was still living in campus housing at the time of his arrest.
Willmore's lawyer argued that his department store arrest was based only on the account of the girl and that it is unclear "what she cried out about."
Bail was set at $1,500 and he is scheduled to return to court in October.
