Hinds
GOSHEN – Bail has been set at $25,000 cash or $100,000 bond for
a Port Jervis man, who was arraigned in Orange County Court on Friday,
for allegedly throwing a liquid containing his own semen at unsuspecting
female customers at the Shoprite Plaza on Dolson Avenue in Middletown.
Christopher Hinds, 38, is charged with throwing the fowl-smelling liquid
at customers on June 16, July 2 and July 7.
An Orange County grand jury had indicted him on charges of criminal mischief
as a hate crime, aggravated harassment, sexual abuse, public lewdness
and endangering the welfare of a child. He was also charged with criminal
possession of a weapon as Middletown police officers found a pair of metal
knuckles in his car.
It is alleged that on three dates, Hinds threw the liquids on the female
customers. In some instances, he tossed them from a car and at other times,
he approached the victims on foot. Hinds is charged with hate crimes for
picking victims, one of whom was a 14-year-oold girl, because of her gender.
The criminal mischief charges stem from the damage done to the victims’
clothes and property from the liquids.
Hinds was arrested by Middletown Police on July 13.
If convicted, he faces sentences of two-and-one-third to seven years in
state prison on each of the charges of criminal mischief as a hate crime
and criminal possession of a weapon.
A conviction on the charge of sexual abuse would require that he be
placed on the state sex offender registry since the victim is under 18
years of age.
“Any case involving a defendant who commits a series of crimes against
strangers and who targets his victims based on their gender is a very
serious crime,” said District Attorney David Hoovler. “Any
offender who repeatedly targets women for this type of disgusting and
disturbing criminal activity, particularly one who targets a young teenage
girl, and subjects them to any type of sexual abuse, is someone who must
be severely punished and closely monitored.”
