Restaurant owner gets jail for sexually harassing workers

The owner of an upstate New York restaurant who sexually harassed employees has been sentenced to six months in jail.

The Post-Star of Glens Falls reports 65-year-old Jonathan LaRock, of Moreau, was sentenced Wednesday to six months in Warren County Jail followed by six years' probation. LaRock pleaded guilty in September to 26 counts of forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment.

LaRock was arrested last year after a 17-year-old employee at LaRock's Howard Johnson restaurant in Lake George told police she had been sexually harassed. An investigation revealed LaRock had routinely propositioned and sexually harassed female employees for years.

One of the victims testified that she had "panic attacks and nightmares" for months after the assault.

LaRock is the owner of what's believed to be the nation's last Howard Johnson restaurant.

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Information from: The Post-Star, http://www.poststar.com