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Motel Worker Accused of Groping Girl

DUNMORE — A motel employee in Lackawanna County is accused of sexually abusing one of his guests, a 13-year-old girl. Mayurkumar Shah is charged with corr...

DUNMORE -- A motel employee in Lackawanna County is accused of sexually abusing one of his guests, a 13-year-old girl.

Mayurkumar Shah is charged with corruption of minors and inappropriate contact with a minor, both felonies. He allegedly molested a 13-year-old girl staying at the motel in Dunmore where he both lives and works.

The girl's family was staying at Scottish Inns because they had been forced to leave their home during last week's storm. Friday afternoon, the girl and another child were left alone.

"The parents thought they were an appropriate age and appropriate maturity where they could be left alone for a period of time, and when the family went out, had to get some belongings, they were under a time constraint to get belongings out of a soon-to-be-condemned property. The children asked if they could stay behind," said Dunmore Police Det. Mike Lydon.

Dunmore police say that's when Shah first approached the children.

According to court papers, he taught them how to use the motel's master key. Shah then used that master key to enter the family's room and bring the children some coffee.

The 13-year-old girl told her parents, then police, that Shah hugged her several times and each time groped her chest. He also asked the girl to take coffee creamers from his pants pocket.

Shah is not accused of inappropriately touching the other child.

Police say Shah has worked at Scottish Inns for a few months

"There is always potential for other victims, you know, if there is anybody we certainly encourage them to come forward. There is nothing that we know of at this time, though," said Det. Lydon.

We reached out to the motel's owners for comment but they have not responded.

A previous version of this story indicated that Shah was the owner of the motel. That was incorrect; Shah is an employee at the motel.

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