I was told today by my male coworker, that a coworker from another department (who is actually in the process of being transferred into our dept) stood behind him during a group photo at the company parade event. My coworker was holding the banner with both hands when the other male standing behind him allegedly grabbed his ass. It was a clear squeeze, not an accidental rub. The alleged suspects mother was also standing to the right of the male victim to which he stated he was not sure who actually grabbed him in that moment.
Now after hearing about this male's upcoming transfer, we started to hear the rumors that he had stolen employees' tips in the past as well as walking out with a whole case of water. Keep in mind he is transferring to a loss prevention role where we normally keep a certain level of integrity to our job and need to trust our coworkers not to steal our shit from our already small department.
The alleged coworker approached my coworker and had introduced himself. After learning his name and what department he was from, that was when he said some odd things, mentioning he had the cutest kids. (His kids were not with him at the parade) but had talked to his kids around the pool area during the summertime pool party without their father present, just his ex-wife. I am getting bad vibes, thats just weird that he would think it's ok to grab a potential new coworkers' ass. It's not OK to grab anyone's ass EVER.
He did tell me he planned on telling our supervisor what happened but the way the leadership is, I have a feeling this will need to move up the chain. Our manager is just as disconnected with us as our supervisor. We never see our manager; she manages 7 locations.
I feel the urge to just take this to HR immediately but is it my place? I mean since he told me, am I just as guilty if I don't report it?