Saturday, July 9, 2011

Pervert at Pizza

I have a friend who LOVES pizza. She could eat pizza everyday of the week. As she ages, she limits her self to pizza once a month, her first payday. I will call her "Mz." A few months ago Mz called me up from the Pizza Palace. She was talking very fast, and I could tell she was really upset.  Our conversation went something like this:

Mz: OH MY GOD OH MY GOD 
me: WHAT - WHAT
Mz: There is a PERVERT in the Pizza Palace, he is a child molester!
me: What?
Mz: I can tell because he was looking at all the little girls
me: ARE YOU SURE?
Mz: YES, and I went outside to see what he was driving, it was a creepy van.
me: you cant accuse someone of being a child molester just because they drive a creepy van.
Mz: I got on my phone and looked the guy up, he has been convicted of child molesting. I have his mug shot right here on my iPhone.
me: What are you going to do?
Mz: I started yelling and telling everyone there was a child molester in the restaurant and I called the cops because he has a creepy van.
me: you did?
Mz: Yes I DID. I am waiting for the police, the pervert left.

So the cops came a talked to my friend Mz. The guy did not do anything, therefore the cops could not do anything. If in fact that was the same guy as the one listed on her cell phone, he has already been convicted and did his time. Now he can go to the Pizza Palace anytime he wants.

So last month Mz called me up and asked if I would join her for dinner at the Pizza Palace. 
Sounded good. 

When I arrived she was sitting at a table in the center of the room. When I sat down Mz whispers loudly,
THERE HE IS.. who I say...THE PERVERT, HE IS BACK HERE AGAIN! I am thinking oh no! So I say show me his mug shot. She gets the photo of the man on her phone, under his description it says he is convicted of lewd acts with children under the age of 14. I look at the photo and I look at the man. I can see they are similar, but I can't tell if it is the same guy. Mz runs outside to see if the creepy van is there. No it's not.  I ask Mz how she knows it is the same guy. He is a middle aged white guy with a comb over.  No tattoos, he did not have a beer belly,  nothing that would really distinguish him from any other middle aged white guy.
Now I wonder what am I suppose to do. There are a million little girls and boys running around the Pizza Palace. Mz gets up and starts going table to table showing the photo of the man on her cell phone. 

All these thoughts start swarming in my head. What if  Mz is wrong ? What if she is falsely accusing this guy? Do I get up and help her go table to table warning people of looming danger if there is none? What if Mz is right?
Does that man have any business sitting in a restaurant full of kids? What if he in fact was sitting there looking for prey? I convinced myself to error on the side of caution.

So I start going table to table saying "there MAY BE a child molester in this building so watch your kids." (how generic is that.) I look and my friend is franticly moving from table to table. Then Mz runs to the front door and stops a people before they even get in. Mz is waving her iPhone around in peoples faces, telling them LOOK, LOOK HE IS SITTING RIGHT OVER THERE. The man just sits there and looks down at his table. Is that a sign of guilt?
I decide it is time to go home and forget about the pizza. I tell Mz I am not feeling well and I go home.

I get home and look up the guy on the computer. I wanted to see a larger photo. I pull up the photo and I still cannot tell if that is the same guy or not. They both have the same comb over, and similar face shape, but it seems to me I could easily mistake the man in the photo for someone else. Maybe it is the same guy, maybe not.
I think I will avoid the Pizza Palace from now on. What would you do? 

1 comment:

R. Quilter said...

Kayakers Wife said: I would have told management about your subspicions and asked them to keep and eye on him. You were smart to leave.