A Quincy man charged with masturbating on an inbound Red Line train before reaching a crescendo just before Broadway at first denied he was playing his flute, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office says.
During an interview at Transit Police headquarters after his arrest yesterday, James Cox "allegedly made statements first indicating that he was not masturbating but in fact had crabs and was scratching himself," the DA's office reports, adding, however, that Cox then allowed as how it wasn't crabs he was reaching for on Tuesday.
At his arraignment in South Boston District Court today, prosecutors asked for $5,000 bail but to have him locked up by revoking his bail on two outstanding shoplifting charges out of Brookline. Judge Michael Bolden set bail at $150, but did agree to order Cox to stay off the T and out of South Boston until his case is resolved.
The DA's office provided this account:
[Assistant DA William] Champlin told the court that MBTA Transit Police were contacted on Tuesday by a 23-year-old woman who said she boarded a Red Line train at Quincy Center Station at approximately 2:00 that afternoon. A man later identified as Cox also boarded the train at the station and sat next to her before moving to a seat across from her. A male passenger soon took the seat next to the woman and showed her a message on his phone, informing her that Cox was masturbating as he stared at her, prosecutors said.
The woman shouted at the defendant, who was then seen wiping a substance from his hand onto an empty seat, prosecutors said. He exited the train at Broadway Station.
The male witness sent the woman a photo he had taken of Cox on his phone. Through the course of their investigation, Transit Police identified a woman known to Cox, who positively identified the defendant as the man seen in the photo taken by the witness, prosecutors said.
Innocent, etc.