Mahdis Habibinia | Executive Editor, Online
Featured Image: The photo attached to the social media post allegedly showing the man detailed in the account of one of the incidents. | Courtesy of Instagram/@inked_mamii
Part-time York instructor Nicolae Stefan Pop was arrested on Wednesday, February 5 and charged with two counts of sexual assault.
Allegedly, “between Friday, January 3, 2020, and Thursday, January 16, 2020, two women were sexually assaulted while seated on the TTC subway train,” stated the Toronto Police Service (TPS) news release.
On January 16, allegations involving a York professor assaulting an underage female on the TTC surfaced on social media. Instagram user “M” with the nametag inked_mamii took to the social media platform to share her account of one of the reported incidents.
“This morning around 10 a.m. on my commute to work I was sitting across a young girl probably between 16 to 18 years of age. The train was practically empty and this man sat right beside her. I woke up to her tapping me on my shoulder in tears asking if I saw the man, I did but couldn’t remember how [sic] he looked like. She said he took off his jacket, put it on his lap, with his bag over it and put his hands through it and started to feel up the side of her breasts,” read M’s Instagram post from January 16.
According to M, the victim moved away and took a photo. The photo was attached to the Instagram post allegedly showing the man detailed in the account.
“Even just from speaking to her I could tell she is very timid and isn’t the confrontational type. A woman nearby was wondering why he ran off but now it all made sense. We told her she needed to speak up if something like this was [sic] to ever happen again, even if she didn’t want to confront him at least tell someone around her right away,” continued M’s Instagram post.
The post circulated online and attracted more than 60,000 reactions. Some social media users claimed the photo showed a York University professor.
Shortly after seeing the photo and the social media posts, two women and a witness contacted police, according to TPS.
It was confirmed today that he is a part-time instructor at the university.
At the time, however, police were still investigating and working alongside York. York University Acting Chief Spokesperson Yanni Dagonas says the university was made aware of the situation and was taking steps to help TPS with the investigation.
“In the interim, the instructor will not be attending campus and the University has made arrangements for the courses to continue as scheduled with alternate instructors. This has been communicated to registered students. We take this report very seriously but cannot comment further on personnel related matters,” says Dagonas.
As of January 20, the instructor has not taught on the campus. A petition was created approximately three weeks ago calling for the termination of the instructor. It currently has 615 signatures.
Pop is scheduled to appear in court at Old City Hall on March 19, 2020 at 11 a.m.
TPS encourages anyone with any information about these incidents, or believes they are a victim of a sexual assault, to contact them at 416-808-3100, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637), or Leave A Tip on Facebook.
More to come on this developing story.
