Man Charged With Molesting Girl After Hotel Mix-Up
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A Conshohocken man is jailed in Missouri, charged with sodomy and child molestation after police say he got the wrong room key from a clerk at a Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
The 42-year-old was in Missouri, attending a business convention, but police say he ended up in the bed of a nine-year-old girl around four a.m. on Sunday.
According to court documents, Daniel Hughes had been out drinking. When he got back to the Ritz-Carlton in a suburb of St. Louis, where his friend was staying, he told a clerk he didn't have his room key. The clerk gave him a new one, but he gave the clerk the wrong room number.
Clayton, Missouri Police Chief Tom Byrne said Hughes unlocked the door, and even though it was chained, he forced his way into the room occupied by two girls. "He entered the bed with a 9-year-old and molested her," said Byrne
Her parents were staying in a connected suite, and when the young girl screamed, Byrne said her father chased Hughes from the room, "He ran out and went downstairs and our officers caught him in the lobby, and he was just dressed in his underwear."
He's charged with first degree statutory sodomy and three counts of first degree child molestation.
The hotel clerk has resigned; the Ritz Carlton Hotel released a statement saying they're cooperating fully with the investigation.
Reported by Jim Melwert, KYW Newsradio 1060
