MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Christina Mable will never be the same. “I’m livid. I’m absolutely livid,” she said.
Police say 32-year-old Mugurel Caldararu grabbed her between the legs after she walked out of the Kroger at Highway 64 and Berryhill Road Wednesday night.
“I feel taken advantage of. Not just on a physical level, but emotionally,” Mable said. She says Caldararu was waiting outside the store.”He had an accordion piano around his neck playing music or whatever. Had a little cardboard sign that talked about raising money for his kids or whatever.”
She says she gave him $5 and told him she liked his music. “I put my hand on his shoulder and was like, ‘God bless you.’ And, man, he just reached in and grabbed me.”
She says she ran to her car, drove off and called police. “They said if I went up to Kroger they would meet me up there.”
So she drove back, and Caldararu was still there. “So I flagged the police down and pointed him, out and they apprehended him,” she said.
Police say Caldararu is from Europa Island, a small landmass off the western coast of Madagascar.
“The man’s clearly a pervert and a con artist,” Mable said.
Her husband Lewis was at work when it happened. “The thing that hurt me the most is I was trying to console my wife, and she told me she could still feel his hands,” he said. “He’s lucky I wasn’t there to catch him, because it would have been a whole different story.”
Caldararu is charged with sexual battery. He’ll face a judge Friday.
“I was proud of my wife, because she did come out and press charges. So, now maybe potential targets of his won’t be gotten,” he said.
