Nothing signals the approach of Christmas quite like Santa Claus coming to your local mall.
And yet one American incarnation of the great St. Nick appears to have badly overstepped the brief to spread festive cheer this year.
A man jobbing as Santa in Connecticut had his own deviant wish list brought to view when he was arrested for allegedly grabbing a teenage co-worker and exposing himself to her in a break room.
Officers from the Milford Police Department responded to the Connecticut Post Mall in Milford around 7.30pm Monday following a report of a possible sexual assault.
While investigating, they learnt that 45-year-old Prince Carter, the shopping center’s on-duty Santa, was accused of grabbing an underage colleague and exposing his unsaintly privates in the staff break room while still dressed in his red-and-white garb.
Carter was arrested in Bridgeport later that night on charges of third-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor, the Hartford Courant reported.
He was booked into the local jail on $25,000 bond and was due to appear in court Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the mall told the New Haven Register that Carter had been banned from the property following his arrest.