A convicted sex offender who passed himself off as an executive chef of the Worthington Hotel offered several people jobs and groped at least two 17-year-old women, police said.
He told one of the women that this was what to expect from drunken hotel guests, police said.
Robert J. Washington, 41, was issued two citations for assault by contact Thursday.
Police say they learned of the ruse Monday night after some of the people showed up at the downtown hotel, only to find that Washington did not work there.
Detective Kerry Adcock said Washington has denied deliberately touching anyone inappropriately or promising people work, but admitted posing as a chef to "impress people and because he didn’t want to tell them he’s a sex offender."
Tarrant County court records show Washington, 41, plead guilty in 1991 to aggravated sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in exchange for a 15-year prison sentence.
A 17-year-old college student told police that she had called Washington after learning through someone at her church that he worked at the hotel and was reportedly hiring. She said Washington offered her a hostess job for that night and even gave her a ride home from college to discuss it.
But as they arrived at her home on the short east side, the teen told police, Washington warned her about drunken hotel guests she would likely encounter on the job.
"He told her, 'They might try to do this’ and then he reaches over and starts grabbing her breasts," Adcock said.
The teen said she jumped out of the car but Washington didn’t leave, still insisting he could get her a job. He also told about a half a dozen others gathered in the area, including a few men, that he had work for them that night at the hotel, too, Adcock said.
Adcock said Washington instructed the people to dress in black pants and a white shirt and said he’d arrange to have them picked up by bus around 9 p.m. at the location. At some point during his talk with the group, police say he also grabbed the breast of another 17-year-old girl.
"She was wearing a tank top and Washington grabbed her breast saying, 'You will have to cover those up,’ " said Sgt. Cheryl Johnson.
The woman told police that she told Washington to get his hands off her, and he apologized.
When a bus didn’t show at the designated hour, someone in the group called Washington and was told that the hotel’s restaurant had been closed down by OSHA and that he wouldn’t need anyone that night.
Police said Washington later drove back to the neighborhood, recruiting an 18-year-old woman to supervise the clean-up.
Police were later called after that woman, accompanied by one of the 17-year-old women and another man, went to the hotel and learned that Washington did not work there.
.........Sarah Tofte
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