Police Say They Warned Man To Stop Offering Foot Massages In Franklin, Later Arrested

By Michelle Sahn

A 19-year-old South Brunswick man was arrested after police say he went to a local pool and began to massage the teen-aged lifeguard’s feet.

Lawrence Malapitan of Monmouth Junction section of town, was charged with harassment by South Brunswick police.

Meanwhile, he was charged in Franklin with harassment, defiant trespass and lewdness in connection with an incident in that town on the same day.

In Franklin, police say they had also previously warned him to stay away from pools on private property.

According to a news release from South Brunswick Capt. James Ryan:

Around noon on Aug. 3, police were called to the Nassau Square Clubhouse pool off Route 27 in South Brunswick.

They spoke with a teen-aged female lifeguard, who said a man came into the pool area, sat down next to her, then began to massage her feet. He told her he was starting a foot massage company.

She told him to stop and said she was going to call police. As he left, she used her cellphone to take a photo of the vehicle he was driving.

She told police she did not recognize the man from the complex, and she said he had done the same thing three weeks earlier.

In that case, he left when she told him to stop. She told police she did not report that incident because she just thought it was “weird” and figured he wouldn’t return.

A few hours later South Brunswick detectives learned Franklin police were investigating a similar case.

Just after noon on Aug. 3, Franklin police said they were called to the Society Hill I pool on Pear Tree Lane in Franklin Park, where an 18-year-old lifeguard reported that a man - who did not have a pool pass - began to ask her “strange questions,” then offered her a foot massage.

Her description of the man fit Malapitan’s description, Franklin police said.

Police in that community were familiar with him, because they had warned him to stop offering foot massages to lifeguards, authorities said.

In July, Franklin police received several complaints in Society Hill from lifeguards at several pools who said a man was offering foot massages, but the man left those pools before police arrived and no one was charged.

On July 24, Franklin were called to a pool at Society Hill II on Fisher Drive on a similar complaint, and in that case, they identified Malapitan, so they went to his home on Aspen Court and told him he was not welcome at the pools on private property, a news release said. No charges were filed.

Franklin police also said they are still investigating a June 30 case, in which they were called to a Sapphire Lane in the Franklin Park section of the town. In that case, a woman reported that she found a handwritten note under her vehicle’s windshield wiper.

The note said the writer wanted to give the car owner a foot massage, and included “a response area with check boxes for “yes,” “no,” or “maybe, thinking about it,” police said in the news release.

The note was signed “Lives In The Neighborhood.”

Bail on the Franklin charges was set at $2,500 and he was sent to the Somerset County Jail.