New filings link the downtown hotel incident to separate encounters at a Galleria-area Best Buy and a Heights Kroger, records show.
HOUSTON, Texas — A man arrested after a contractor was doused with bear spray inside a downtown hotel last week is now charged in additional incidents at a Best Buy and a Kroger elsewhere in the city, according to court records made public Friday.
Prosecutors say the hotel episode on Rusk Street was not isolated. Investigators identified the suspect as Robert Edward Glasscock and tied him to a chemical-spray assault at a Galleria-area electronics store in August and to a November encounter outside a Heights supermarket where a woman was sprayed and a second woman reported being groped. The added counts move the case from a single arrest to a broader review of repeated public confrontations, as detectives outline a months-long pattern and prepare the file for judges in Harris County.
Police were called about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to Club Quarters Hotel at 900 Rusk St., where a contractor working in the lobby said he suddenly felt a burning sensation and saw a guest holding a canister. Officers said the guest retreated to a room on the 17th floor and initially refused to come out. After speaking with negotiators, the man surrendered and was taken into custody without further injury, according to Houston police at the scene. Bomb squad officers and patrol units later entered the room and cataloged several canisters, cameras and other items, authorities said. “It lingered forever,” said Brittany Harris, who was sprayed in a separate case and later learned of the arrest. “Now I jump when someone walks up behind me,” she said.
New charging documents filed this week list Glasscock as the man accused of spraying an employee at a Galleria-area Best Buy in August and of confronting two women at a Kroger on Studemont Street in November. One woman told reporters he walked past and sprayed her as she was stepping toward the entrance. Inside the store, a second woman reported that a man groped her near the self-checkout and then smiled at bystanders; she recorded cellphone video later provided to detectives. Witnesses also supplied a license plate number that investigators said helped identify a suspect. Real estate records show Glasscock previously lived in a Montrose patio home and had more recently stayed for weeks at the downtown hotel, according to people familiar with the investigation.
Records and neighbors’ accounts describe increasingly erratic behavior in recent months. People who lived near the Montrose address said the man kept to himself but had become more visible and agitated, posting about public figures and installing cameras around his hotel room. Hotel staff asked that the equipment be removed, according to internal notes cited by investigators. Police said they recovered multiple bear-spray canisters after Tuesday’s arrest. Authorities have not reported any serious physical injuries in the hotel incident but noted that chemical irritant exposure can cause eye pain, coughing and skin irritation that can last for hours.
Court officers said Glasscock is expected to appear before a Harris County magistrate following the new filings. Additional hearings would address bond conditions, any stay-away orders linked to the Best Buy and Kroger locations, and whether the cases are consolidated. Prosecutors could seek enhanced penalties if the conduct is shown to be part of a repeated pattern. Investigators are also reviewing the phone video and store security footage referenced in the November incident and are waiting on laboratory confirmations tied to the recovered canisters. No trial dates have been set.
On Friday, the Club Quarters lobby hummed back to normal with guests checking in and workers refreshing a wall of plants near the front desk. The contractor targeted in the hotel case did not speak publicly. A clerk on duty said the 17th floor was briefly cleared on Tuesday night while officers worked the scene. Outside the Heights Kroger, shoppers moved past the entryway where the November spraying was reported. “You don’t expect that at a grocery store,” a customer said, declining to give a last name. A Best Buy employee at the Galleria-area store referred questions to corporate media relations.
The man remains charged in the downtown incident, with related counts now filed from the August and November cases. The next court setting is expected early this week in Harris County, where judges will consider bond and discovery timelines.
Author note: Last updated January 26, 2026.