Excerpt from abc13.com
CITY OF MONTGOMERY, TX (KTRK) — Detectives with the City of Montgomery are investigating a bizarre encounter in a McDonald’s bathroom that traumatized a little boy.
For the May family, a quick stop for dinner on a busy school night turned into quite the wake up call.
“Although I completely believed my son and every word he said, it still didn’t feel real in that moment,” Diane Stoebner-May said.
It started with a trip to the bathroom. Christopher is nine years old and didn’t want to go into the lady’s restroom with his mom. His sister Tori waited for him outside the men’s bathroom until he came out.
“Christopher, he was standing there, he was crying — and I was like, ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Tell me!'” Tori May said.
“He just followed me into the stall and locked the door and said ‘Get on the toilet so I can pee on you.’ And I said no. And I kept saying no,” Christopher said.
A young man cornered little Christopher in the bathroom stall and repeatedly told him he wanted to urinate on the boy.
“You know I was so shocked when my son was telling me this,” Stoebner-May said. “This individual had to know there was a parent pretty close – in the restaurant. I mean, it’s McDonald’s, it’s not a huge place.”
The man got away that night, but Stoebner-May immediately filed a police report. Officers combed through surveillance video at that McDonald’s but wouldn’t let us view it yet because the case is still open.
After our phone calls, police tell us they’ve identified and interviewed the suspect, and he’s been in trouble before.
Stoebner-May says Christopher will now be accompanied to bathrooms by his dad. She wanted to share this story as a warning to other parents.
“My son told him no. But it made me worry about – is he looking for another child? What would’ve happened if it would’ve been a younger kid who didn’t know how to handle that situation?” Stoebner-May said.
Read the entire article here.
OUR TAKE
In order to keep our children safe, we must reduce isolated, one-on-one situations. Although about 90% of children who are victims of sexual abuse know their abuser, this means there are still 10% of cases in which abuse is committed by a stranger. If there is a door and seclusion, there is risk for abuse. It is the responsibility of businesses, organizations, and parents alike to put policy in place to protect children from abuse.
For more information on preventing child sexual abuse in your community, visit The 5 Steps to Protecting Our ChildrenTM, or take D2L’s award-winning Stewards of Children® prevention training.
