OREGON CITY, Ore. — from www.kptv.com – A man accused of taking a foot fetish to the level of abuse said Friday he was simply “helping a lady put on a pair of shoes.”

Clackamas County deputies said Steven Bronson inappropriately touched women in the shoe departments of two Oregon stores. They arrested him Thursday on charges of third-degree sex abuse.

In an interview from jail, Bronson said he’s the victim of an honest mistake.

“I’m kind of shocked,” Bronson said. “I wasn’t inappropriately touching people, I was just helping this lady put on a pair of shoes. I find out a lot of products by talking to people in stores.”

Last month, a woman at a Target store in Clackamas accused him of rubbing her feet and putting his face to her leg. He’s also accused of licking a woman’s thigh.

Witnesses said Bronson also approached other women and asked them to try on shoes, which Bronson does not deny. He said the incident was blown out of proportion.

“I was shopping for a present for someone,” he said. “It was kind of mutual. We began talking you know, and one of the ladies initiated the talking.”

Bronson will appear in court later this month. He said his “whole world has been turned upside down” because of his arrest.