By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 21-year-old male was arrested after he allegedly crawled under the closed door of an occupied public bathroom stall in Morton where an 8-year-old boy started screaming drawing the child’s grandfather and then police.
The incident happened in June.
The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges earlier this month and summoned the 21-year-old suspect from Morton to Lewis County Superior Court.
Steven R. Moulton appeared before a judge on Wednesday, but has not yet been arraigned.
Charging documents in the case describe that on June 25, the child was with his family who were camping in Gust Backstrom Park.
The boy went to the public restroom, according to his grandfather, who said he then saw a dark-haired male enter.
About 20 seconds later, the child started screaming, the grandfather told police.
The grandfather ran to the bathroom, forced open the stall door and threw Moulton out, according to charging documents.
The boy told police he was sitting down behind the locked door when it happened, and said Moulton covered his mouth with his hand and punched him twice in the face, according to charging documents.
Moulton denied hitting the boy, and told police “he could see someone was in the locked stall, but he had to go to the bathroom,” according to charging documents.
Defense attorney Robert Schroeter who represented Moulton at his first appearance in court on Nov. 16 said, “Without question, there are developmental delays.”
The 21-year-old was scheduled to make his plea on Wednesday, but court-appointed defense attorney David Arcuri told Judge James Lawler he first needed to get an order to have Moulton evaluated.
“I represented him a couple of years ago and he was found not competent related to a developmental disability,” Arcuri said.
Lawler agreed and scheduled the two to return to the Chehalis court next week.
He is free on a $25,000 signature bond co-signed by his father, Michael R. Moulton.
The senior Moulton is the Morton School District teacher whose teaching certificate was suspended at the beginning of this school year after having been under review for nearly a year in connection with his arrest for allegedly assaulting students by touching them.
The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office charged the younger Moulton with first-degree burglary for the June incident in the park restroom.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said “… the good news is, nothing really bad happened. I don’t know what his motive was.”
Meagher explained the unusual charging decision saying it technically fits the elements of burglary, a class A felony.
That is, he unlawfully entered or remained in a building with the intent to commit a crime, and he did assault the boy; he put his hand over his mouth, Meagher said.
“You have a public restroom, but he crawled under locked stall,” Meagher said. “So that is impliedly not open.”
“It fits legally, it’s just not something you typically see,” he said.
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