Crime & Safety
Police: Hypnotist Sprayed Man with Gasoline, Wished for Gun
"If I had a gun, I would shoot him," the hypnotist allegedly told police, claiming he feared for his life.
A Montgomery County man who was upset by a fellow gas station customer’s request to move his car reportedly retaliated by dousing the stranger from head to toe with gasoline and telling police he would have shot the man if he’d had a gun.
Miguel Mendez of Montgomery Village tells police he was driving home with his wife and 7-year-old daughter when they stopped for gas, WJLA reports. At the Gulf gas station on Rockville Pike, north of Rockville Town Center, a blue Audi was blocking two pumps.
According to Mendez, Armin Moadab, 61, of Rockville, the Audi’s owner, drenched him in gasoline when he politely asked Moadab to move his Audi forward, the news station reports.
“He just went off, I mean uncontrollably,” Mendez told WJLA. “He came towards me and pointed [the nozzle] straight into my face, and started shooting gasoline non-stop -- full-blast -- all over my body.”
According to charging documents, Moadab allegedly told police officers he would have shot Mendez if he had a gun, WJLA reports. He claimed that he sprayed Mendez because he feared for his life.
Moadab works at a Gaithersburg medical office as a certified master hypnotist, reports WJLA.
Moadab’s business website says his therapeutic services may help patients “be happy,” according to the media outlet.
Moadab was charged with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. He could serve 40 years in prison if found guilty.
The attack was reported June 20, according to Maryland online court records, and Moadab was released from jail the next day on bond.
>>> Read the full WJLA story here.
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