Bolingbrook police: Drunk man assaults waitress at Denny's

BOLINGBROOK – Police said a drunken Bolingbrook man capped off his birthday celebration early Tuesday by groping a waitress.

Lt. Carter Larry said officers were called at 2:32 a.m. to Denny's, 126 Northeast Frontage Road, after Miguel A. Garay-Rojas kept touching the 22-year-old woman inappropriately. Larry said Garay-Rojas and a 49-year-old man were both "highly intoxicated" when they came into the restaurant.

"After being seated at their booth, [Garay-Rojas] repeatedly asked for the victim's phone number and asked her to sit at their booth," Larry said. "She ... refused to give Miguel her phone number but did sit at the booth for a short time. She stated she was trying to humor [them] in an effort to calm the intoxicated patrons."

Garay-Rojas allegedly began rubbing the woman's thigh over her pants, then reached up her pant leg to rub her calf and ankle. The waitress left the table and called police, Larry said.

When the waitress returned to the table, Garay-Rojas "lunged towards the victim and grabbed her apron, pulling her to him," Larry said. Garay-Rojas then allegedly rubbed the waitress' groin twice despite her telling him "no" and attempting to pull away.

When police arrived, the waitress "was visibly upset and began to cry as she pointed towards the two men seated at the table and then walked off into the kitchen," Larry said.

Officers spoke with the two men and "Miguel advised that he had gone out to a bar for his 40th birthday and was intoxicated," Larry said.

Garay-Rojas, of the 100 block of Vernon Drive, was booked into the Will County jail on charges of criminal sexual abuse and battery.