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PROVO — A homeless man was charged Tuesday with groping two teenage girls attending a youth conference at Brigham Young University.
Dennis Lee Yazzie, 64, who is listed in court documents as a transient, is charged in 4th District Court with two counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
On Friday, two girls, ages 16 and 17, attending the Especially For Youth Conference at BYU, were in line to get food at the Harman Conference Center, 770 E. University Parkway, when Yazzie "almost appeared out of nowhere" and inappropriately touched one of them, according to charging documents.
"The 16-year-old female stated the incident occurred so quickly she was shocked and bothered by it. She said she knew what Mr. Yazzie had done was inappropriate and intentional," the charges state.
A 17-year-old girl also in line told police that, like the first girl, Yazzie "had both hands out, palms up, asking for money" when he approached her and then inappropriately touched her over her clothing, according to the charges.
One of the conference's counselors witnessed the gropings and called police. Another witness also told police that Yazzie's actions were intentional and that he was about to touch a third girl before the counselor intervened and told him to leave.
When officers arrived, they were directed to the BYU Laundry Building that Yazzie had entered, the charges state. Yazzie initially told police that he had not spoken to anyone from the time he walked from a bus stop on University Parkway to the laundry building.
"On further questioning, Mr. Yazzie said he spoke with 'a bunch of girls' and said 'girls were everywhere.' Without making any statements or asking any questions that would prompt this statement, Mr. Yazzie said, 'I'm no pervert,'" the court documents allege.
BYU police placed Yazzie under arrest shortly after questioning him.
"While Mr. Yazzie's actions negatively impacted the two females he assaulted, his actions were witnessed by many of the young women and young men at the event. Mr. Yazzie's actions impacted, alarmed, and caused concern for many individuals at the event," police wrote in an affidavit.
