Advertisement Robert Van Wagner: Man with foot fetish arrested for stealing socks Incident caught on surveillance video Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A Port St. Lucie man with a foot fetish is snatching socks.On Friday, police arrested Robert Van Wagner for robbery after he allegedly took a young girl's socks the day before.MOBILE/TABLET USERS: Tap Here for Video Police said the girl was walking home from cheerleading practice at Sportsmans Park with her socks in her hands when Van Wagner approached her and asked her to hand them over.According to a police report, Van Wagner begged and pleaded for the socks until he had the young girl cornered."She was backed up into a car," said Port St. Lucie police Sergeant Rod Dobler. "He actually forcibly took the socks from her and left the scene."He told her he needed the socks for a project, the arrest report said. Police noted that it’s not the first time the former Jensen Beach High School employee tried this excuse. He said the same thing to three adolescent girls two years ago.In 2012, Van Wagner was 33-years-old when Port St. Lucie police first arrested him for asking the three young girls to put on socks that he was carrying -- and then run in them."Well, it's a fetish," explained Dobler. "And this is an escalation of his fetish, and it's going to continually get worse unless he seeks help."Police said Van Wagner was not allowed back in Sportsmans Park for at least a year after the 2012 incident. According to Dobler, Van Wagner is banned from Sportsmans Park for life.On Tuesday, Van Wagner bonded out of jail. A camp counselor at Sportsmans Park said the news of Van Wagner's release put him on high alert, saying, "I'll keep an eye out for a guy who might be looking for some socks. I'm actually going to my boss now."Port St. Lucie police are asking anyone who may have had a similar encounter with Van Wagner to report the incident.