LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A 70-year-old Snellville man will spend five years in prison after a jury convicted him of inappropriately touching women and girls at a Lawrenceville swimming pool.
William Michael Hegwood was found guilty of felony sexual battery against a child under 16 and two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery.
A judge sentenced him to five years in prison and two years of probation.
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Prosecutors say the incidents happened April 7, 2024, at Bethesda Park Aquatic Center.
A 12-year-old girl told her mother a stranger grabbed her upper thigh while she swam in the lazy river with her sister, according to prosecutors.
The mother then saw Hegwood touch another girl and reported him to a lifeguard.
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While the first mother made her complaint, another woman told the lifeguard Hegwood followed her in the lazy river and touched her buttocks, prosecutors say. That woman’s 14-year-old daughter told the lifeguard Hegwood reached into her bathing suit.
One mother who spoke to Channel 2 Action News after the incident asked not to be identified to protect her child.
“She was in shock, crying, shaking, and she couldn’t even talk,” the mother said of her daughter. “She told me that this guy, he like touched her, but it was worse because he went under her bikini.”
The mother said when her daughter started crying and pointing at Hegwood, he smiled at them.
When Gwinnett County Police officers arrived at the pool a third woman told them Hegwood touched her thigh twice, according to prosecutors.
Officers arrested Hegwood at the scene.
“It is important that people feel safe to enjoy our public facilities,” Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. “Predators like this defendant will be brought to justice.”
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