Wilmington Man Gets Probation For Lewd Conduct In A Supermarket

WOBURN -- A 71-year-old Wilmington man was given a suspended jail sentence with probation after admitting to committing a lewd act in front of a young girl at a Wilmington Market Basket.

In Middlesex Superior Court on Jan. 24,Walter H. MacDougall Sr., 71, of 36 Salem St., was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for four years while he is on probation after pleading guilty to one count of open and gross lewdness.

As part of his probation, he must take his medications, continue with treatment, register as a sex offender, stay away from the victim,and do not work ir volunteer with children under 16.

Police say they responded at 6:37 p.m. on March 30, 2016 to a report of a man committing a lewd act near the deli counter of the Market Basket at the Wilmington Plaza Shopping Center, 260 Main St.

In questioning an 8-year-old girl, she told police that a "strange man" kept looking at her and her brother while they shopped with their mother, according to published reports.

As the children left the deli area, the man is alleged to have committed the lewd act.
Neither the boy nor the mother saw the incident.

Police viewed store surveillance, which doesn't show the alleged incident. But it does confirm other parts of the event that the girl described.

Police tracked MacDougall because he used a credit card to buy a bag of Dunkin' Donuts coffee, according to published reports.