A registered sex offender tried Monday to have sex with a 14-year-old boy who was using the bathroom at the Georgia Welcome Center in Augusta, authorities said.
But the boy forcefully told the man to leave and scared him off. Richmond County deputies located the offender nearby.
Donald Middleton, a 55-year-old offender from McCormick County, SC, has been charged with criminal attempted aggravated child molestation and marijuana possession.
The boy was sitting on the toilet at 4:55 p.m. Monday at the Georgia Welcome Center when a man with a deep voice and a scruffy beard and white T-shirt tried to enter the stall. He was soliciting sex from the boy, authorities say.
“Why don’t you come out and s*** my d***?” the man reportedly said. “If you don’t come out, I’m gonna break in there.”
According to a sheriff’s report, “The victim said that as bravely as he could, he asked the suspect to leave.”
The man left. The boy stood on the toilet and peered over the stall to see if the men’s room was empty. When he confirmed it was, he ran outside to his mom’s car.
Deputies were in the area and arrested the subject as he was attempting to flee in a pick-up truck.
“The Sheriff’s Office is proud of the quick thinking and immediate reaction of the deputies in apprehending this individual and removing him from the streets,” sheriff’s Lt. Allan Rollins said in a press release.
