GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Gwinnett County man is facing a felony child molestation charge after police say he followed a woman and her child through a Duluth store and performed a sex act on himself a few feet behind them.
Duluth police arrested George Anthony Richards, 36, on July 11 at the Walmart on Pleasant Hill Road. Officers say a loss prevention employee flagged them down in the parking lot and led them to a man matching the description of the suspect she had just watched on store cameras.
Loss prevention staff had been tracking him for several minutes before officers arrived.
“He been following this lady throughout the store for a while,” a staff member can be heard telling officers in body camera video.
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Police say video shows Richards entering the store at 10 p.m., taking an empty shopping cart and moving into the children’s clothing section, where a woman was shopping with a child seated in her cart.
Officers say he positioned himself behind clothing racks to stay out of her view, and that video captured him lowering his shorts and performing a sex act on himself while standing a few feet behind them.
Officers say the juvenile with the woman noticed him following them and was concerned about his behavior.
“He’s in the act right here. He literally is,” the loss prevention employee said while playing the video for officers.
Richards was read his Miranda rights inside the loss prevention office and declined to answer questions.
“No, I’m not willing to answer that question,” he said.
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Earlier, before officers reviewed the video, he offered the only explanation he gave that night.
“Yeah, I was walking around the store, because I’m doing DoorDash,” he said.
Four employees witnessed the incident and gave written statements, police said. Richard was already on probation for an armed robbery conviction out of Gwinnett County.
He is being held at the Gwinnett County Jail on charges of public indecency, stalking and child molestation, along with a felony probation violation.
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