MIDWEST CITY, Okla. – Police are investigating after they say a man raped a four-year-old child at a McDonald’s restaurant in Midwest City.
Joshua Kabatra, 37, was arrested this week and booked on two counts of rape and one count of lewd acts with a child. The incident happened at a McDonalds along SE 15th Street in Midwest City.
“Daycare workers were from outside Midwest City. They brought their children to the play center of this restaurant and while they were inside the play area, a 4-year-old went to the restroom that’s apparently inside the play area,” said Chief Brandon Clabes with the Midwest City Police Dept.
According to Chief Clabes, the day workers checked on the 4-year-old girl after about five minutes. The door to the bathroom was locked and it took some time for someone to answer, Clabes said.
When Kabatra exited the bathroom, Clabes said he “raised his hands and said ‘hey, I’m just washing my hands,'” and walked out. However, when the daycare workers asked the little girl if anything happened inside the bathroom, she answered yes and pointed to her genital area.
Daycare workers immediately called 911.
“It’s just a horrific situation for any parent, a nightmare for any child and certainly for the daycare,” Clabes said. “At this point, there’s nothing indicating the daycare workers did anything wrong. They were supervising the children — the only person who did anything wrong is our suspect.”
According to police, Kabatra has only been living in Oklahoma for a few months. During an interview with police, we’re told the suspect admitted to touching the child.
“We’ve never seen this individual before and we hope to never see him again,” Clabes said. “What we would encourage the public — look at his mugshot. If anybody feels like they’ve been a victim of this individual or their children has been a victim, have those conversations with your children and let us know. Contact our agency.”
Rebecca Burand lives in Midwest City and said the entire situation was infuriating.
“I know it’s not their [McDonald’s] fault, and the reason I know it’s not their fault is because pedophiles and molesters – they look like normal everyday people,” Burand said.
Kabatra remains in custody at the Oklahoma County jail as of Thursday.
News 4 reached out to McDonald’s regarding the matter. A spokesperson sent us the following statement:
“At McDonald’s, nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our customers. We are deeply disturbed by the incident that occurred at one of our Oklahoma restaurants earlier this week. We are fully cooperating with the police during their investigation. At this time, our thoughts are with the victim and others impacted by this incident.”