Mother Uses Offender Site, Finds Suspect

Los Gatos, CA (United States):
A mother's use of the state's online sex-offender registry has led to the arrest of a Los Gatos man who allegedly touched her child inappropriately at a grocery store.
Using the Web site www.meganslaw.ca.gov after the Sept. 13 alleged incident, the mother identified the man as 64-year-old Baron Alexander McDonald.
Los Gatos/Monte Sereno police said they arrested McDonald on Tuesday as he was driving away from his residence on Camellia Terrace, which is near the store.
The mother spoke to the suspect when she saw him touch the child, but the man walked away. At first, the mother didn't report the incident to police, said police Sgt. Dave Gravel. "As she thought about it, she really started feeling weird about it. She wondered if it was just some weird guy, or he could be an actual sex offender?"
That day or the next, the mother visited the Megan's Law Web site. She zeroed in on registered sex offenders living in the Los Gatos area and saw a face that looked like the man in the store, Gravel said.
"When she saw he was a registered sex offender, she said, 'That's it,' and she called us," Gravel said. McDonald has a previous conviction for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under age 14, according to the Web site.
It took time for police to find other witnesses. Police declined to release details about the mother and child, saying they wanted to protect their privacy.
McDonald was booked into Santa Clara County Jail on one count of annoying or molesting a child under 18 and released on a $60,000 bail bond. His arraignment was set for Oct. 18.
Oct. 09, 2005
Chuck Carroll, Knight Ridder
Contra Costa Times, CA