LinkA shopping trip to the Wal-Mart on Schillinger Road for a mother and her three young girls takes a traumatic turn.
"Part of their innocence was taken,†said Michelle Hartley, refering to her daughters, ages five, six and nine. “You just don't think that something like is going to happen when you run into the store to get something.â€
Hartley says while buying some laundry detergent, she spotted another customer doing something she says was
unspeakably dirty.
"I noticed he had his hands inside his pants, and as I was walking by, I said to myself, 'No, he wasn't doing that.' So I stopped to observe, and I'm certain he was masturbating."
Gratifying himself, Hartley says, and at one point, the man was only feet away from her daughters, ages five six and nine.
"I was absolutely
disgusted and furious (Translation:
) that somebody would do something like that,†she added. “And I feel like, even though my children didn't know what was going on, I still feel like they were violated."
As for what sort of violation may have been committed, Mobile police say they are serious about prosecuting this type of behavior, but also don't want widespread panic among supermarket patrons.
"We are interested in finding out this man's side of the story,†said John Young of the Mobile Police Department, “to see whether what he did was a lascivious act or not a lascivious act.â€
It is an act that could possibly be defined as harassment, disorderly conduct or public lewdness: all misdemeanors.
This Mobile mom believes the consequences should be harsher. “And too many people do it,†Hartley added. “It happens all too often. So maybe if there were a harsher penalty, people wouldn't do this anymore."
Wal-Mart says, while it takes Hartley's allegations seriously, it cannot comment on the case because the investigation is continuing. A Wal-Mart spokesman would not divulge all of the store's security measures, but did says that customers should feel safe shopping there.
In this most recent case, police are searching for a light-complexioned black male in his early 20's, about five-feet-five inches tall, with a very thin build, wearing a black t-shirt, oversized baggy pants, a black skull cap and baseball cap.