photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Gerald L. Pamaska, pictured in August 2019

A man has been charged and bound over for trial after allegedly inappropriately touching a woman who was a stranger to him at a Lawrence liquor store.

Gerald L. Pamaska, 51, was charged Aug. 29 with sexual battery, a midlevel-severity felony, court records indicate.

The Journal-World requested and on Monday received the police affidavit supporting Pamaska’s arrest. Allegations in affidavits have not been proved in court.

A 26-year-old woman told police on Wednesday, Aug. 28, that she and her friends went to buy some vodka from Cheers Liquor, 1414 W. Sixth St., about half an hour earlier. The affidavit says the woman was visibly upset and crying.

While they were inside the store, one friend told police, a large man came in and made a comment about “damn ladies.”

The alleged victim said she ignored the man but shortly thereafter felt someone pressed up against her back; then, almost simultaneously, she felt a hand slide up her shorts and fingers “brushed against” her bare genitals, according to the affidavit.

The woman said she immediately started yelling for him to get away from her and that he couldn’t touch her like that. The liquor store employee told the man he needed to leave, and he got into a car waiting outside. The woman told police she banged on the window to tell the driver about what had just happened, but the driver said she was just a Lyft driver.

The woman said she had been poised to call police at the scene, but she wanted to get away from the situation. She returned to the liquor store with her partner and they checked to see if the man, later identified as Pamaska, was still there before they called. He was not.

The cashier told police that Pamaska came into the store every few days. The cashier said he had told Pamaska to leave, and after the woman left with her friends, Pamaska came back in and accused the cashier of stealing the money that Pamaska had planned to use to buy beer.

The Lyft driver told police that she picked Pamaska up at a Lawrence residence on West Sixth Street, drove him to the liquor store where the incident allegedly occurred and subsequently to another, then back to the residence. She said Pamaska had been making her uncomfortable and hitting on her during the ride.

The driver showed police where she had picked Pamaska up and dropped him off. Police knocked at one door and Pamaska’s brother first tried to say he didn’t have a brother, then said Pamaska wasn’t there, according to the affidavit. Police asked the brother to ask Pamaska to come outside. He agreed, then shut and locked the door.

Police reportedly knocked again after a few minutes, and then Pamaska came to the door. He and his clothing matched the description the alleged victim and other witnesses had given, according to the affidavit.

Pamaska, allegedly visibly intoxicated and slurring his words, told police that at the liquor store he’d spoken only to the people he was with; however, the witnesses all said he had been there alone. Pamaska reportedly said he would never disrespect a woman, and he became verbally aggressive with officers.

Pamaska told police he had just moved to town from Wisconsin. He said he had a job, but he didn’t provide the name or address of an employer.

A judge bound Pamaska over for trial, and he pleaded not guilty on Sept. 18, according to online court records. Pamaska’s next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 22.

Pamaska’s appointed defense attorney, Michael Clarke, declined to comment for this article.