KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An alleged foot fetish landed a Kansas City man behind bars after prosecutors said he tricked two women into letting him touch their feet in a sexual way.
Stephan Richardson, 23, is now charged with two misdemeanor counts of 2nd degree sexual abuse.
Two women claim Richardson took advantage of them, while prosecutors revealed he was most recently working at LEGOLAND, a popular children’s attraction in Kansas City, Mo.
Court documents show it all began at Linda Vista apartments on the 1300 block of E. Armour Boulevard on New Year’s Eve of 2015.
Family members and friends told FOX 4 Richardson often stayed at the complex with a friend – while prosecutors alleged that’s where he sexually abused a woman.
“I’m shocked,” said a woman who lives in a nearby apartment. “Yeah, I’m shocked to hear that because I had no idea.”
Prosecutors said Richardson invited an acquaintance over to the apartment after she agreed to let him film her feet for what he called a dance “video project” that he was “working on for school.”
Court documents show the victim lay on the floor, on her stomach, as Richardson stood behind her and had her “do different points with her feet,” similar to movements used in ballet.
The victim told police Richardson said he was going to apply pressure to her feet to help with a point and that’s when she thought something didn’t feel right, so she turned her head around and believed she saw his skin.
Court documents go on to say that, “The victim thought to herself, ‘I hope he doesn’t have his pants down,’ because before that she felt Stephan do something to her feet and then felt something warm drip on her feet, but she wasn’t sure.”
The victim told police she believed Richardson had dropped his pants and masturbated on her while filming it on his phone.
She said she confronted Richardson about it, to which he allegedly replied, “Oh, I just got a little out of control… I like you and I didn’t think you would say yes if I asked you to do that to your feet.”
Court documents show the woman told police she took his phone and “observed a lot of pornography and specifically a girl laying on a couch with her feet on the footrest. She observed the girl’s feet to have sperm on them.”
Prosecutors said Richardson admitted to another victim to having a foot fetish. That UMKC student had also reported similar behavior by Richardson to school officials after an incident she said occurred in the campus library.
The student, who said she was an old high school classmate of Richardson’s, said she agreed to help him with the same “video project”, but soon realized he was rubbing his penis on her feet through his pants.
Court documents show after she confronted him, Richardson told her, “I’m sorry, I’ve got a foot fetish” and then proceeded to offer her $100 “to have sex with her feet.”
“That`s freaky that somebody would do something like that,” the neighbor said. “I don`t know what to think. I don`t know. It sounds weird… crazy. You never know who`s living next door to you.”
UMKC officials confirm Richardson once worked on campus with Sodexo dining services. In a statement, they said:
“The victim reported the incident to our Title IX director, but the victim said she preferred not to report the incident to police.
Per law and policy, we abided by the victim’s request. We also contacted Sodexo. Sodexo handled the matter through their personnel procedures. Mr. Richardson was also banned from campus.
Our Title IX director was later contacted by Detective Wellington. She confirmed the incident to him, and gave the victim the detective’s contact information and told the victim she could contact the detective if she wanted to.”
Court documents list Richardson’s latest employer as LEGOLAND at Crown Center, where police arrested him Tuesday.
On Thursday, a marketing representative for LEGOLAND issued this statement:
“We are aware that an employee was arrested at this location on Tuesday 26th April and are in the process of gathering more information about this matter. We are unable to comment further pending the police investigation.
LEGOLAND Discovery Center Kansas City is committed to providing all of our guests a safe and secure experience. All employees undergo a thorough background check as part of our pre-employment practice.”
Richardson’s family was very kind to the FOX 4 News crew, who delivered the news of his criminal charges Thursday afternoon. However, they told us they are shocked and upset to hear of his arrest and did not wish to make any official statements at this time.
Richardson remained in jail as of Thursday night on a $4,900 bond.
