FRENCHTOWN TWP. — A Frenchtown Township man is charged with sexually touching a woman in a store, and investigators want to know if anyone else has encountered the suspect.

Monroe County Sheriff’s Office detectives identified the suspect as Avery Elijah Williams, 24, and arrested him Tuesday at his place of employment, a news release from the sheriff’s office said. He was arraigned Wednesday in 1st District Court in Monroe on two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of assault and battery. Bond was set at $2,500, and a GPS tether is required if he posts bond. A probable cause conference is scheduled for Feb. 20, and a preliminary examination is set for Feb. 27, according to online court records.

Fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct is a high-court misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison and a $500 fine. Assault and battery is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in a jail and a $500 fine.

The investigation began Monday after a woman customer of a department store on Telegraph Road in Frenchtown Township called 911 after she was assaulted, the release said. The woman told Deputy Madison Fleck “that she was approached by the suspect who asked her to assist him with making a TikTok video. The victim agreed and then noticed the suspect was attempting to draw attention to his clear state of arousal. The victim attempted to leave the area but the suspect assaulted her as she was fleeing.”

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Fleck gathered evidence of the incident and coordinated an investigation with detectives who arrested Williams.

Sheriff’s detectives are asking the public to come forward if they are aware of any additional incidents at area retail stores that are similar to this reported incident. Anyone with information on this case or similar cases is asked to contact the sheriff’s office’s Detective Bureau at 734-240-7530.

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Man accused of sexually touching woman in Frenchtown Township store