This Story Really Bugs me.......

Gardener is a real sex pest

Thursday, July 5, 2007 - Thursday, July 5, 2007

A man who sexually assaulted several women by telling them that he was checking their bottoms for insects has been sentenced to three years probation.

Michael F. Knurr who works as a gardener would scare the women saying he had seen a tick them before touching their posterior and in some cases, pulling their trousers down.

In one case, a woman, 32, called Knurr for an estimate to remove a tree. As they were walking, the victim said that Knurr told her about a tick. She told him to get it off and pulled her shorts down slightly.

She felt a pinch on her left buttock.

He said, "I got it."

She looked at his hand and didn't see a tick, but she thanked him.

He said, "Oh no, it was my pleasure."

In another instance, he told a woman asking about having a tree removed that there was a tick on her, and he put his hand down her pants and groped her buttocks.

Prosecutors think Knurr used the routine on at least 16 women although not all of them were assaulted.

Knurr apologized in court and said he hoped his troubled behaviour was a thing of the past.

He said: "I hope nothing will happen.

"I just want to put this behind me and get on with my life."