Modern Family Star Groped by Fan During Photo Op

29-year-old man charged with indecent assault of Sarah Hyland
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 21, 2014 9:45 AM CST
Modern Family Star Groped by Fan During Photo Op
Sarah Hyland, a cast member in "Vampire Academy," poses at the premiere of the film on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014, in Los Angeles.   (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Australian police have charged a man with indecently assaulting Modern Family star Sarah Hyland in Sydney yesterday. The cast of the ABC series arrived in the city this week to shoot an Australian episode, and the 23-year-old was attending a social function for cast members at a Sydney hotel last night when she was allegedly groped on the chest by a man who had asked her to pose for a photograph.

The actress, who plays big-eyed teenager Haley Dunphy, immediately alerted private security guards, who called police to the scene. New South Wales state police said in a statement today that an unnamed 29-year-old man had been charged with assault with an act of indecency, a crime that carries a potential maximum of five years in prison. The actress was shaken by the incident, and left early from the event sponsored by Qantas Airways, later tweeting, "Sorry to all the fans outside the #qantas event that I didn't get to say hi to but I had to leave due to an inappropriate touch of a fan." (More celebrity stories.)

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