An Ohio predator exploited a mother’s secret safety knock to sexually assault a girl in the bathroom of a Five Below store, according to police.
Robert DeWeese is facing charges of felony rape, kidnapping and more for the alleged incident, which occurred in South Lebanon on February 6.
DeWeese, 37, finagled his way into the bathroom by imitating the unique knock her mother told her daughter to listen for.
The mother told the girl, 6, she was going to buy her some new pants after the child had had an accident in the store, said Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell.
“She told the daughter that she was going to go get those pants and leave the door locked until she heard the special knock, and she described to the girl what the special knock was going to be,” the prosecutor said, according to the outlet.
The man eavesdropped on the mom’s instructions, according to investigators. Deweese then allegedly used the knock to access the store bathroom before sexually assaulting the little girl, WLWT reported.
The girl yelled stop, which startled the alleged assaulter who fled the area.
The victim’s mother called 911, according to WLWT, who was provided with audio of the call.
“My daughter was in the bathroom. She had an accident. I went to see if I could go find her alternate clothing while she was in the bathroom,” the mom said. “She says a gentleman knocked on the door and came in and touched her while she was in there, and she yelled [for] help. She yelled for him to stop.”
DeWeese was later found at a relative’s home, according to WLWT. He had only been released from prison three days earlier, Fornshell said.
DeWeese reportedly has a history of sex crime convictions across multiple Ohio counties. He recently completed a three-year sentence after violating parole violation related to a child sex crime, WLWT reported.
“The guy serially engages in sexual-oriented offenses and assaults and had only been out three days when he assaulted this 6-year-old girl,” Fornshell said, according to WLWT.
A man has been arrested in Pennsylvania after he allegedly tried to buy a 6-year-old girl from her mother for $5,000 after he babysat the young victim. The Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that Allegheny Township police said the incident took place when Theodore Magee was asked to watch the girl overnight at his […]
DeWeese was indicted on a first-degree felony rape charge, as well as felony charges of gross sexual imposition, kidnapping and abduction, according to records.
He is currently being held in Warren County Jail, where his bond has been set at $1 million, according to a Facebook post from Fornshell.
It was unclear Sunday, March 8, if DeWeese had hired an attorney who could speak to the allegations on his behalf. DeWeese has not yet been asked to enter pleas to the charges he faces.
If you know of a young person who is being exploited or are the victim of a crime, you are urged to report it to your local FBI field office by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI. Tips can also be left at tips.fbi.gov
If you suspect child abuse, please call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or visit ChildHelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential, and the hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
