Sherwin Shayegan, 34, approached the 14-year-old at a luggage carousel around 3.10pm Friday and began rubbing his shoulders and back, authorities say
A Washington man who allegedly massaged a teenage boy’s back without his permission at a New Jersey airport and handed him a note with money inside is facing child endangerment charges.
Port Authority police say Sherwin Shayegan, 34, approached the 14-year-old at a luggage carousel at the JetBlue terminal in Newark Newark Liberty International Airport around 3.10pm Friday and began rubbing his shoulders and back.
He then handed him a note that read: ‘This is money for letting me give you a massage. Thank you.’
Authorities say the note also included a $10 bill and ‘alarming content,’ but didn’t provide further details.
Investigators tracked the 34-year-old to a hotel near the airport. They say he had ‘disturbing notes’ and money in envelopes with the names of various airports in the United States written on them.
Shayegan, of Bothell, Washington, is now facing child endangerment charges.
It wasn’t known Saturday if Shayegan has retained an attorney.
Shayegan is also notorious on the West Coast as the Piggyback Bandit – turning up at high school sports games and jumping onto the backs of players.
The New York Daily News reports that he been banned from schools in North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Washington and Oregon for his bizarre antics.
‘He makes himself appear as if he’s limited or handicapped. I think he plays an empathy card, so to speak,’ Jim Haussler, activities director for the Bismarck, N.D., public schools, told The Associated Press. ‘It’s a little creepy. Well, a lot creepy is more like it.’
Shayegan is also notorious on the West Coast as the Piggyback Bandit – turning up at high school sports games and jumping onto the backs of players
The New York Daily News reports that he been banned from schools in North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Washington and Oregon for his bizarre antics
But he seems proud of his habits and has posted about his antics on social media
He even shared a mugshot on Facebook after one arrest in 2012
Coaches at various West Coast schools – who have been warned about Shayegan since 2008 – say he usually turns up wearing the team’s jersey and shorts and pretends to be a volunteer.
He then gets involved, giving players drinks during time outs, offering players rubdowns and the 245lb man even jumps on their backs after they showered.
Shayegan, who has a lengthy criminal record which also includes assault, criminal impersonation and drug possession, was spotted at a couple of Washington schools as recently as December 2 when he was reported for massaging players’ shoulders.
School officials believe he may have been impersonating a trainer.
Shayegan allegedly massaged the teenage boy’s back without his permission at the JetBlue terminal in Newark Newark Liberty International Airport (stock image of a carousel at Newark)
In both cases, he was ordered to leave the schools but was not charged.
Old high school classmates of Shayegan described him as ‘developmentally delayed,’ to the Daily Beast.
Yet others say he is ‘smart, knowing exactly what to say and when to say it’ to avoid more serious charges.
Seattle resident Paul Huenefeldt, a friend of the suspects for more than 20 years, told the Associated Press Shayegan is obsessive, has emotional problems, and ‘is one of these individuals living on the sidelines of society.’