HOUSTON – When 14-year-old John told his mom to stop at a Shell service station at Highway 90 and Sheldon Road so he could use the bathroom, he never imagined the pit stop would end in a police investigation.
“One minute it's all OK and everything's fine and things just change so quickly,” John said.
The teen says a man who had just walked into the restroom, inappropriately touched him as he was leaving.
It happened, he claims, right after the stranger tried to strike a conversation with him, asking his name, age and where he went to school.
“He was asking me different questions about my sexuality and all that and then he reached his hand down and started touching me near my area,” John said.
John said he backed away, ran out and told his mother, who called police.
While the pair waited for the authorities, Mary said they spotted the alleged groper getting into a truck with a few other people.
She blocked the vehicle in with her car until deputies arrived.
“He just said 'I didn't touch your son. I didn't see your son. What are you talking about?'” Mary said.
Mary said deputies didn’t arrest the man because there were no witnesses, so it was her son’s word against his.
“He needs to be locked up. He does not need to be on the streets,” Mary said.
“No one should be able to do that,” John said.
The case is being referred to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Child Abuse Unit.
