Photo by Phil Roeder

A 35-year-old man is being held in jail without bond for sex abuse charges stemming from an incident involving the alleged assault of seven teenage girls at the National Museum of Natural History on Tuesday.

The 13 and 14-year-old girls were visiting D.C. from California. They were viewing the museum’s butterfly exhibit when they encountered Devone Foote, according to a D.C. Superior court document.

Foote touched three girls’ butts with his hand, one with his body, and another with his penis “with the intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade or arouse or gratify” his sexual desires, according to a court document. He also “unlawfully assaulted and threatened” two of the victims “in a menacing manner.”

The girls’ chaperone reported the incidents to officials, according to a court document. A volunteer told authorities that she saw Foote a few times in the middle of a crowd. At one point, she noticed “his hips pressed forward” in front of a girl. She told him to leave the building.

As the museum closed, the girls and their chaperone left. But they ran back in after spotting Foote sitting on a bike outside. Police subsequently arrested him.

He appeared in court this morning after being charged with five counts of second-degree sexual abuse and three counts of assault. A judge ordered that he be held without bond pending a hearing set for April 28.