BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A 20-year-old man was arraigned Saturday on charges that he lured a fellow Northgate Mall worker into a secluded, employees-only corridor and sexually assaulted her.
Junius T. Smith, of the 2400 block of Mars Court in Groesbeck, appeared in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court on a charge of gross sexual imposition. Bond was set at $150,000 cash.
The county sheriff's department said Mr. Smith, an employee of Wilson's The Leather Experts, lured the girl into a rear corridor of the mall. She was "scared, held against her will and intimidated," police said.
The girl was under 18, police said, although they could not be more specific Saturday.
Security officers patrol the corridors several times a day on a varying schedule, according to mall general manager Jerry Weller. The passageways lead to a trash compactor and are not frequently used during business hours.
"They're well lit. It's just that they're not well-traveled," Mr. Weller said.
Because Mr. Smith and the girl both worked at the mall - at different stores - they were permitted access to the corridors.
The incident occurred in early September, investigators said, but the girl did not report it to police. Instead, she wrote a letter to her mother detailing the attack, and the mother brought it to mall security, Mr. Weller said. Security officers called police.
This was the first allegation of a violent attack said to have occurred in the passageways of Northgate Mall, Mr. Weller said.
Mr. Smith is no longer working there, the manager said. Mr. Weller said additional security measures are being taken because of the assault allegation, but he would not discuss them in detail.
"I'm satisfied that those systems are adequate," he said.
