This Easter Photo Op Didn’t Go the Way It Was Supposed To

A man from New Jersey was arrested at a shopping mall near Pittsburgh after police say he assaulted a worker participating in an Easter photo event.

Authorities in Bethel Park say the incident happened Monday at South Hills Village mall. According to a criminal complaint cited by local station KDKA-TV, 36-year-old Shivakrishna Bera allegedly touched a woman who was working inside a full-body Easter Bunny costume.

The employee told police the man approached her and began asking questions. When she tried directing him to an assistant for help, he reportedly ignored the suggestion. She said he then touched her arm and upper chest and grabbed her breasts.

The assistant who was nearby told investigators that the man also asked whether the Easter Bunny was “a boy or a girl.” Police say he pushed his fingers into the nose and mouth area of the costume during the encounter.

Investigators later used mall security footage to identify the suspect. Officers eventually located him asleep inside a nearby AMC movie theater in the mall and took him into custody.

Police say that while he was being detained, the man asked whether the bunny was “the merchandise thing” located near a Five Below store and later asked officers, “It’s a doll, right?” When officers explained that a person had been inside the costume, he reportedly said the contact happened “by mistake.”

According to WPXI, the suspect also commented that if he had not stayed to watch a movie at the theater, he likely would not have been caught.

Bera has been charged with indecent assault. The Smoking Gun reports he is being held on $10,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court Thursday.