Times Square Elmo Gropes 14-Year-Old Tourist, Police Say

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A Times Square Elmo impersonator is facing charges for groping a teen tourist while posting for a photo with the girl's family, police said.

Innocente Andrade-Pacheco, of Passaic, New Jersey, was charged with forcible touching after grabbing a 14-year-old girl's buttocks in Times Square. The girl's family approached Andrade-Pacheco for a photo, and while posing the man moved his hand down the girl's back, police said.

The 54-year-old Elmo impersonator was arrested Sunday shortly before 7 p.m. near Broadway and West 46th Street, police said.

New York City regulated Times Square impersonators in 2016 by establishing designated "activity zones" where costumed characters and other entertainers must confine themselves. The decision to regulate the activity was made after complaints of negative interactions between tourists and the entertainers.