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FAIRVIEW TWP. — A pizza baker at a Mountain Top restaurant was arraigned Friday on allegations he pulled down the pants of a female coworker and pressed up against her while he was exposed, according to charges filed.
Township police allege Nicola Coppola, 56, of South Mountain Boulevard, assaulted the woman inside a room at King’s Ristorante on South Mountain Boulevard on Nov. 13. The woman reported the alleged offense on Nov. 22.
According to the criminal complaint:
She reported she was working the front counter area and went to a back room to retrieve pizza boxes, noticing Nick, whom she identified as Coppola and known as the pizza man, was in the same room.
She claimed Coppola told her to “show me your cheeks.” She did not think anything of it as she told police they joke about stuff like that, the complaint says.
When she reached for pizza boxes, she claimed Coppola pulled her pants down and pressed up against her.
She also claimed Coppola exposed himself as she heard him unzip and unbuckle his belt before he grabbed her hips, the complaint says.
Police in the complaint said she reported Coppola thrust himself against her several times before he stopped and kissed her.
She left the room and went outside to call a friend but Coppola followed her telling her he “couldn’t help it because she is attractive,” the complaint says.
During an interview with police, Coppola initially said he only grabbed the woman’s hips, denying he pulled down her pants and exposed himself to her.
Coppola later told police he grabbed the woman from behind and she wiggled herself against him, causing him to pull the woman’s pants down — adding that his zipper was down and his genitals were out of his pants, “and I rubbed against her.”
In a statement to police, Coppola apologized, saying he only wanted to scare the woman, and that they both were laughing.
Coppola was arraigned by District Judge Ferris Peter Webby Sr. in Wright Township on charges of indecent assault, indecent exposure, criminal attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and criminal attempt to commit sexual assault. He was released on $25,000 unsecured bail.