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A former town of Paris man has been charged with child sexual assault after he allegedly groped a 9-year-old girl at a Twin Lakes beach.
Jeffrey Ashmus, 54, is charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child and disorderly conduct. Ashmus is a Waterford resident, according to court records, but previously lived in Paris.
At a preliminary hearing Friday, a court commissioner found there was probable cause to bind Ashmus over for trial.
According to the criminal complaint, Twin Lakes Police were called to a beach on Lake Mary Aug. 8 for a report that a man had inappropriately touched a 9-year-old girl. When police arrived, they spoke to the girl, described as “visibly upset and scared” and “crying and holding on to her friend,” another 9-year-old girl.
The girls had been at the beach with their families and were sitting on a pier, they told police, when a man they did not know grabbed the 9-year-old repeatedly and pulled her into the water. At one point he grabbed and squeezed her butt. He also grabbed the ankle of the second girl. One of the girls’ mothers intervened and pulled the girl away from the man.
Witnesses pointed out Ashmus, who was sitting on the steps of a restaurant at the beach when police arrived. According to the criminal complaint, police described Ashmus as intoxicated, loud, agitated and confrontational.
