GREENWOOD — Greenwood police are sharing insight into the alleged fondling of a child at the Greenwood Little League over the weekend and how they are handling the investigation.
According to a police report, a child was fondled by a man who was a stranger while in the restroom briefly before his father walked in. The father confronted the man and helped his child, but the man got away.
The man was described as being in his 50-60s, wearing a long sleeved blue shirt, red hat and Khaki pants, police say.
The father has decided not to cooperate with police on their investigation, saying he didn't want to put his child through it, according to Greenwood Assistant Chief Matt Fillenwarth
"Having raised two boys of my own, I would never call (touching a child's genitals) appropriate," Fillenwarth said. "I helped my children go to the bathroom plenty of times, and never did I touch their genitals to do that."
Fillenwarth continued,"Why anybody would do that? Without knowing who this is, or talking to him, we just, we don't know that answer."
Fillenwarth said that police are looking for any leads and are simply hoping to speak with the man responsible.
"We're still trying to identify the individual," Fillenwarth said. "Obviously, if anybody knows who this person is, or recognizes them by the description, please give us a call. We want to speak to this individual and determine was this somebody that doesn't have the mental faculties to know that that's inappropriate or was this guy just another predator out waiting for a chance to victimize someone?"
Incidents like this are rare, especially with so many people around at a little league baseball game.
"We've never had anything like this happen at Greenwood Little League. I mean, it's literally across the street here from the police department," Fillenwarth said. "I can't remember when we have had one. I mean, it's just, it's pretty rare."
Anyone with information into what the police department is describing as a child molestation incident is asked to contact the department.
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