1000 x 90

Teenager Arrested After Luring Young Girl into Bathroom ‘Incapable To Proceed to Trial’

By Jesse Wood

The teenager charged with indecent liberties with a child, kidnapping and abduction after luring a five-year-old girl into a bathroom at Michael’s in Boone in December has been found incapable to proceed to trial, according to court records.

On April 14, William Francis Grubb, 19, of Hopewell Church Road, was transported to Broughton Hospital in Morganton, where he will be in temporary custody for 24 hours a day for examination and treatment pending a district court hearing.

Grubb
Grubb

David Bartholomew, a forensic psychiatrist with the Forensic Services Unit of Central Regional Hospital in Butner, penned a letter to the Watauga County Clerk of Court stating that Grubb was incapable to proceed trial.

Bartholomew evaluated Grubb on Feb. 11 and cited Grubb’s autism spectrum disorder and mild intellectual disability when handing down his assessment of Grubb.

According to court records, Grubb was raised by his grandparents in Boone and lived in multiple group homes as a child because of behavioral difficulties. It was also noted that Grubb was sexually assaulted in 2008 in a group home in Wilkesboro. Grubb would have been about 13 at the time of the assault.

At Michael’s in Boone, Grubb lured the young girl to a bathroom stall, locked the door and prevented the girl from escaping. He then exposed his private parts for the “purposes of sexual gratification.”

After his arrest, Grubb was charged with Felony Abduction of a Child, Felony Indecent Liberties with a Minor, Felony Kidnapping and Felony Indecent Exposure.

After the incident at Michael’s, investigators with the Boone Police Department noted that Grubb stated that abusing young girls for purposes of sexual gratification was an ongoing pattern and that he also engaged in this activity while employed for an unknown time at T.J. Maxx in Boone, according to court records.

Days after Grubb’s initial arrest, a second family came forward to the Boone Police Department and said that a similar incident involving Grubb happened inside a local retail business.

“This is the type of thing that every parent fears,” Boone Police Captain Andy LeBeau said after the first incident was reported.

If Bartholomew is released from Broughton Hospital, he must be in the custody of the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office.