DAVIS COUNTY, Utah — A man who allegedly groped his girlfriend’s friends, refused to stop when confronted, and ultimately punched one of the women in the face before fleeing the scene was arrested hours later when police were called to a fast food restaurant regarding a man who was asking for a ride while his genitals were exposed.
According to a statement of probable cause from the Second District Court in Farmington, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper responded to report of an assault near I-15 and Jennings Lane around 1:05 a.m. Sunday where the male suspect had fled from a taxi on foot.
Police found three women and the driver of the taxi still at the scene, who reported that the suspect, James Roybal, was the live-in boyfriend of one of the women. While at a club together, the women said Roybal repeatedly groped, touched and smacked the other two women throughout the night and continued to do so after leaving the club and getting in a cab.
An argument over this behavior escalated, and Roybal allegedly jumped over his girlfriend and on top of another woman and punched that woman in the face. The responding officer observed the woman had “a substantial contusion to her right cheek bone and eye socket. [victim’s] nose was bleeding.”
The driver of the cab pulled over at this time, and Roybal jumped out and fled on foot westbound, jumping over a fence at some railroad tracks.
About five hours later, around 6:30 a.m., Farmington PD and sheriff’s deputies were called to a McDonald’s in Farmington, near Station Parkway and Park Lane. The suspect in that call, who turned out to be Roybal, “was asking for a ride with his penis and genitals exposed to the witnesses. Roybal’s pants were ripped, but could have been pulled up to cover himself in front of the general public.”
Roybal was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.181 once he was taken to jail.
Roybal was booked on the following charges: two counts of sexual battery, simple assault, lewdness, intoxication, and pedestrian violation at railroad.
