A man who has repeatedly been arrested for his obsession with women’s feet is facing charges again after police say he approached several women and robbed one.
Joey William Leaphart, 45, of Graniteville, was charged with simple battery and robbery by sudden snatch. Richmond County authorties said other charges could be pending.
In the past two weeks at least three Augusta area woman have reported instances where a man identified as Leaphart approached them at the Kroger grocery store and gas station on 2801 Washington Road asking about their feet.
On March 7, a Martinez woman, 37, reported Leaphart approached her while she was sitting in her car at the gas pumps and asked for directions and then asked for money. When she told him she didn’t have any money, he “stated his wife had sugar diabetes and asked her for her socks,” according to an incident report.
The victim told police she quickly locked the door, drove off to a nearby fast food restaurant and called police.
On Tuesday, a 25-year-old Martinez woman called police to say Leaphart approached her while she was pumping gas at Kroger and asked for money because his car was broken down. She tried to ignore him but then he asked for her shoe size and if she would take off her shoe so he could measure her foot, a report states.
The man left when the woman walked to police officers sitting in a nearby cruiser for help.
The following day an Augusta woman, 20, told police a man approached as she was walking to her car and stated he and his wife had run out of gas on their way to Alabama.
The victim told sheriff deputies she planned to give him $2 from her tip money but he snatched it all, asked if he could smell her shoe and then ran toward a car, a report stated.
Police located the vehicle with Leaphart and another man inside.
At the time of his arrest, Leaphart had an active warrant from an incident in June in the parking lot of Crazy Turks, 2910 Washington Road.
In that case the Trenton woman, 28, told police Leaphart asked for money and then asked if he could kiss her feet. Despite telling him no, she said he reached down toward her feet, but touched her leg instead.
Leaphart has a history of arrests in Columbia and Aiken counties for similar instances.
In 2012, a teen told police Leaphart tricked her into letting him suck her toes inside the Grovetown Wal-Mart.
The teen agreed to let him take pictures of her toes after he told her he worked for America’s Funniest Home Videos. He then leaned down, grabbed her foot, said, “Don’t worry. I don’t bite,” and sucked her big toe. He left when the teen started screaming, but not before telling her it tasted good.
He was not charged in that incident because she consented to the contact, Columbia County authorities said.
In 2000, he pleaded guilty to sucking and licking the toes of an 11-year-old. Leaphart was arrested again in 2002 for kissing a woman’s foot without permission while she was in the parking lot of the Aiken County Department of Social Services.