Man charged with sexually abusing 6-year-old boy in bathroom at former Rock N Roll McDonald's
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man stood charged Monday evening with sexually abusing a 6-year-old boy inside a bathroom stall in the River North McDonald's flagship.
As CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov reported Monday night, this was the second time a child has been sexually abused inside the famous McDonald's location in just the past few years. Both incident happened inside the restrooms.
Bryan Sutton, 62, of Flint, Michigan, was charged with one count each of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child under 13 and aggravated kidnapping.
Chicago Police say Sutton entered a bathroom stall and sexually abused a 6-year-old at the McDonald's flagship at 600 N. Clark St. -- formerly Rock N Roll McDonald's -- just before 6 p.m. Saturday.
The boy had gone to the McDonald's with his father and a friend of his father's, and they had all gone to the men's room upon arriving, prosecutors said. The boy's father was washing his hands at the sink, and the boy's father's friend was using a urinal, prosecutors said.
The boy himself was in a stall, for which the door was closed, but not locked, because his father did not want the boy to get locked in.
Prosecutors said Sutton went into the stall and sexually abused the boy, undetected at first by the boy's father or the father's friend.
A security guard in the building had been watching Sutton, who was known to the restaurant's staff for causing disturbances, according to Cook County prosecutors. The security guard attempted to open the stall where Sutton was with the victim, but Sutton pushed the door closed.
Security at the establishment tried to keep the man from leaving, but Sutton battered the 61-year-old man who was working as a security officer, police said.
A bandage covers part of Sutton's forehead in his police mug shot, hiding a wound he may have received while struggling with the security guard.
The suspect also resisted arrest when police arrived, but was placed into custody shortly afterward, police said. Prosecutors said in a court document that Sutton "resisted and fought to the point that officers had to deploy tasers in order to be able to handcuff" him.
The security officer refused medical attention and had no signs of injury, police say.
Sutton was held in custody without bail.
The child was taken to Lurie Children's Hospital in good condition.
A young child was sexually abused in a restroom at the same McDonald's in February 2020.
Christopher Puente was charged with one count of predatory criminal sexual assault in the 2020 incident. Cook County prosecutors said he confessed to detectives that he'd placed a 3-year-old girl on his lap in while he was in a restroom stall at the McDonald's, pulled off her pants, and covered her mouth when she started calling out "daddy, daddy!"
It was 8 a.m. on a Monday morning that February, and the little girl was at the McDonald's with her father and brother – when the brother had an accident, prosecutors said.
The father took both children to the restroom, taking his son into a stall while his daughter waited just outside in the restroom, according to prosecutors. Puente, who was in the next stall, lured the girl into his stall while her dad was preoccupied, pulled her into his lap, pulled down her pants and underwear, and sexually assaulted her.
Prosecutors said, when the girl started whimpering, Puente covered her mouth with his hand. When her father heard her cries, he tried to open the locked stall, then looked over and under the door, and grabbed his daughter's legs to pull her out.
Her father then took the girl and her brother out to his wife, and returned to the restroom, where Puente was still sitting in the locked stall, according to prosecutors. When he went back to check on his daughter, Puente fled the scene.
Puente was arrested two days later, after police released surveillance images of him leaving the McDonald's.
Two child sexual assaults in fewer than three years prompted us to call McDonald's and ask if they have safety concerns – and if more is being done to beef up security at the restaurant.
In a statement, a corporate spokesperson said they are devastated by the incident this past weekend – adding this from the owner: "We are thankful for the swift actions of our security personnel and law enforcement."
We are told the owner is meeting with his team to discuss any security changes that need to be made.
Kozlov also reached out to Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) to see if he had any concerns or was reaching out to the owner. He had not responded as of late Monday night.
