CHARLESTOWN — A half-naked man with sexual abuse and harassment charges spanning four states cornered a 13-year-old boy in the bathroom of the Charlestown 99 Restaurant, blocked the door, and refused to let him leave until the terrified child ate a piece of candy from his hand.
Then he followed the boy and his friends to a playground.
Bail was set at $1,500. His next court date is via Zoom.
The incident, first reported by MassLive, happened on the afternoon of Saturday, March 21 at the 99 Restaurant on Austin Street in Charlestown — the same restaurant the city just approved to be demolished for a 240-unit apartment building.
The 99 Restaurant on Austin Street in Charlestown.
According to a Boston Police report, the 13-year-old was at the restaurant with friends when he went to the bathroom and found a shirtless 34-year-old man standing inside holding an unopened box of Gushers candy. The man told the child to eat one.
The boy tried to leave — multiple times. The man stood in front of the door and wouldn't move.
"Maintained his position inhibiting the victim from leaving and continued to demand the victim eat the candy," the police report states. The child told officers he was "afraid of the large shirtless male." He eventually ate a piece of candy in front of the man, who then let him go.
The boy went back to his friends and the group left the restaurant. They walked to Edwards Playground on Eden Street, about ten minutes away.
The man followed them. He asked the kids to pass him their basketball. He followed them onto the playground.
A father of one of the children called police just before 2 p.m. The child was taken to Boston Children's Hospital for evaluation. His drug screen came back negative.
A rap sheet across four states
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When officers found the man on nearby Dunstable Street, he immediately told them: "They was bothering me at the bar. I didn't touch nobody or nothing."
He was handcuffed for "erratic behavior" and placed under a Section 12 psychiatric hold for "unknown psychosis, impaired judgment leading to impulsive behavior and fluctuating mood."
What police found in his background should make anyone question why this man was walking free in the first place.
He is an unhoused individual living in Boston with a "significant criminal history" across Georgia, New York, Virginia, and North Carolina, according to the police report. That history includes:
- Public indecency charges from Georgia State University Police
- Multiple sexual abuse and harassment charges in New York — including "subjecting another person to sexual contact without consent" and "forcible touching"
- Assault and battery charges
- A charge of "criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation"
NYPD told Boston police they knew him well — describing him as a known "emotionally disturbed person." He had been arrested in New York City for assault as recently as March 12, nine days before the Charlestown incident.
Days earlier: punched a hotel worker for stopping him from watching kids
In the days before the 99 Restaurant incident, the same man walked into the Hyatt Centric Hotel on Devonshire Street in downtown Boston. A concierge noticed him standing near children who were playing, watching them and holding one of their toys. When the concierge asked him to leave, the man punched him in the head.
He also followed a woman into a parking garage on Stuart Street, making her feel so unsafe that she called security for an escort to her car.
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$1,500 bail. Zoom court date.
The man was arraigned on April 15 in the Charlestown Division of Boston Municipal Court on charges of kidnapping of a child and accosting or annoying another person.
Judge Lisa Grant. Photo via WCVB.
The presiding judge at Charlestown BMC that day was Lisa Grant, a Deval Patrick appointee who has held the First Justice seat since 2020. Grant is no stranger to controversial bail decisions. In 2016, she sentenced two-time bank robber Bampumim Teixeira to 364 days — one day short of the threshold that would have triggered his deportation. Teixeira served nine months, was released, and in 2017 murdered two doctors in their South Boston penthouse.
Bail for the man who cornered a child in a bathroom with sex crime records across four states: $1,500.
His next court appearance is scheduled for May 13. Via Zoom.
A man with sex crime records in four states. A man who cornered a child in a bathroom. A man who followed kids to a playground. A man who punched a hotel worker for stopping him from watching children. A man NYPD already knew by name.
Fifteen hundred dollars. And a Zoom link.
The suspect's name was not included in MassLive's report, despite being arraigned on a kidnapping charge — a matter of public record. Mass Daily News is working to identify him through court records. Boston parents deserve to know who this individual is. If you have more information about this case, please send it to [email protected]. We will update this story.
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