A Shelton man accused of paying a teenager $21 to fight a younger girl he believed was bullying his daughter plead not guilty in court Monday.
Police said their investigation showed that Phillip Prokop, 42, paid a 17-year-old girl to fight a 13-year-old girl at shopping center on May 26.
He was arrested hours after the fight and released on a $10,000 bond.
Prokop said that the charges are absurd and that he actually tried to break up the fight.
"A lot of people know that I have a business. I make good money. I'm gonna pay a kid $21 to fight is so absurd. It's ridiculous," he said.
He said he went to the diner to meet the girls that day to tell them to stop bullying his 15-year-old daughter. He went to talk things out but a fight broke out, he said.
The teen spoke with NBC Connecticut about what was happening in school.
"People would trip me in the hallways or would grab my stomach and say that I was pregnant and asked me how far along I was, so that kind of hurt," she said.
The parents of both 13-year-old girls refused medical attention for their daughters while they were at the scene.
The parents of the girl Prokop is accused of grabbing said she suffered a concussion.
Prokop was charged with inciting injury to a person, risk of injury to a minor and conspiracy to commit third-degree assault.
He was released on a $10,000 bond. Prokop is scheduled to be back in court Aug. 8.
