WINDHAM — A traveling service technician turned himself in to police yesterday on charges of assaulting three women over the last several weeks. Police said the suspect told them he assaulted — or tried to assault — as many as a dozen more women in two states.
Eric Henson, 31, of 116 Barretts Hill Road in Hudson was ordered held on $25,000 cash bail yesterday at his arraignment in Salem District Court. He is being held in the Rockingham County jail.
In all three cases, Henson is accused of assaulting the women by placing their feet against his groin. Police were led to Henson by an anonymous tip after media reports about the incidents.
In an interview with police Monday, Henson confessed to the three Windham incidents. He also admitted to nine to 15 other assaults or attempted assaults, according to a police affidavit. Henson told police he was motivated by a desire for sexual gratification, but the acts did not result in arousal, police wrote in an affidavit.
"Eric claimed that he would use the same 'stretching' routine to get women close to him," according to the affidavit. "He stated that he has a foot fetish and that it has become a problem."
Henson is charged with three counts of simple assault stemming from incidents earlier this month inside and outside Route 111 businesses in Windham. Henson apparently did not know any of the victims.
In each instance, he either asked an employee to demonstrate an exercise or offered to demonstrate one himself for the victim, police said.
Windham police Sgt. Mike Caron said the department received reports from individuals about a man committing, or trying to commit, similar assaults at exercise facilities in Salem and Merrimack, as well as in Dracut, Middleton, Wakefield and Worcester, Mass.
Henson has not been charged with crimes anywhere else, Caron said.
Police in Salem and Middleton said they haven't received any recent reports of these kinds of assaults in their towns.
Caron said he thinks Henson selected the Windham locations because he was attracted to the signs advertising the businesses on Route 111, also known as Indian Rock Road.
Henson's job, maintaining and repairing money-counting machines, took him on the road throughout New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Caron said.
Henson is a former Wakefield, Mass., resident and moved to Hudson at the end of June, police said.
News of the suspect's arrest had employees breathing easier at two Windham businesses near the scenes of the assaults.
"I'm so glad they caught him," said Sung-Ja Williams, an employee at APlus Cleaners.
Williams said she was worried for herself and another woman who works at the business.
"I was worried," she said. "We are women."
Linda Doyle, co-owner of Klemm's Bakery, said she was nervous for employees as well, and was relieved to hear a suspect was arrested.
Doyle said the incidents were "very odd."
About 6:25 p.m. July 1, a man entered Windham Pilates and Fitness Center at the Village Green shopping plaza, 33 Indian Rock Road, and asked for help with stretching exercises. The man eventually grabbed a female employee's foot and placed it against his groin, the affidavit states.
On July 17, about 6:05 p.m., police took a report of a man entering the Yoga Sanctuary at The Commons shopping plaza, 25 Indian Rock Road. He grabbed a woman's foot while she was doing a stretch and placed it against his groin, according to the affidavit.
Also on July 17, about 5:15 p.m., a man approached a woman in the parking lot at The Commons, telling her she had nice legs and feet, and asking her if she had ever taken karate.
He offered to show the woman some moves, police said, but asked her take off her flip-flops.
"At this point, he grabbed her leg and put it on his groin," the affidavit says. "She got scared and pulled away."
Henson is scheduled for trial at 10 a.m. on Sept. 9 in Salem District Court.
Simple assault is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of a year in jail.
Caron said he does not expect the simple assault charges to be upgraded.
