A 21-year-old man is behind bars for child molestation after police say he was caught masturbating in the dining room at the Chuck E. Cheese's on Macon Road in Columbus.
According to the police report, a mother of two boys says Kenneth McGhee sat down at the end of her table Monday afternoon. She says she noticed some movement underneath the table and thought he was texting. When she reached to move her purse closer to her, the witness says she noticed his penis was out of his pants and that he was masturbating.
The mother reportedly grabbed her children and told the manager what was happening. The manager approached the man, who then took off running to Fashion Trendz on the other side of Macon Road. Police found him hiding in the back of the store, according to the report.
Police say McGhee claimed he was 16, not 21. Police discovered outstanding warrants out for a probation violation against McGhee.
Police say other witnesses reported McGhee was watching other children while in the dining room.
A Columbus-based psychotherapist, Harold McRae, tells News 3 the incident sounds more like exhibitionism than pedophilia.
"Exhibitionists will expose themselves to children," McRae said. "They'll expose themselves to adults. Often times they will masturbate and that's the extent of it. They're basically harmless, other than the shock value and that's what gives them the sexual excitement."
McRae says parents should always be alert, but the main danger lies in allowing adults you do not know to have private access to your children.
"They end up seducing children, offering them candy and taking them away from home and those are the dangerous people," McRae said.
McRae has counseled exhibitionists. Pedophiles, however, he refers out because he finds their behavior difficult to change.
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