Two businesses where a man allegedly engaged in lewd acts around children notified police. COSI did not.

Columbus Police say a Dublin businessman went to places popular with children, and repeatedly engaged in lewd acts, including exposing himself.

Two of the businesses, a bookstore and pet store, notified police. COSI did not.

And one local mother says the suspect could have been caught months ago if COSI had taken action.

Fifty-one-year-old John Michael Hammel faced a judge last week on charges of public indecency on four different occasions, at three local businesses: On June 7 at COSI, June 9 in the children's section of Half Price Books on Bethel Road, a second time at Half Price books on August 4, and the same day at the Petland next door.



10TV spoke with a mother who witnessed the incident at COSI. She asked not to be identified to protect the privacy of her children.

She says as soon as she saw the man at COSI on June 7, she became concerned. in fact, so concerned, she snapped photos of him.

"He wasn't there with family. He wasn't there with any little kids," she said. "He was lurking behind little kids, lingering behind them. He seemed to be targeting the little kids who didn't have a parent right there next to him."

She says she kept watching him, from one exhibit to the next. She says that's when she realized he was doing more than lurking and leering.

"He had both his hands in his pockets. And the motion that I could see that he was making with his hand under his shorts, it was undeniable to me what he was doing."

She said all the while, he was standing amid children.

"There were children running all around him. I actually got physically sick. It was so disturbing to me that these children are there - it's innocent. They're there exploring and having fun. My children are there, exploring and having fun. And the fact that he's looking at these children and doing what he was doing made me so upset that I got physically ill."

She says she ran and told the nearest employee she could find what she had seen. She says that employee called security, and sent her with a plain-clothes employee to identify the man.

After that, emotional and panicked, she says she rounded up her family and left the area.

It was six days later that she saw a news story about Columbus Police looking for a man who'd exposed himself at Half Price Books.

"As soon as I saw the picture, the surveillance video, I knew instantly, it was the same man."

She called Columbus Police to tell them she believed the two incidents were related. Police tell 10TV that at point, they were unaware of any incident at COSI.

"They informed me that there was no police report filed, that mine was the first report from the COSI incident," she said. "I was very disturbed. I trusted that this institution that is very well-known, that a lot of children go to, school trips go to, field trips go to, that they would have a protocol in place, and I one-hundred percent believe that part of that would be to call police and file a police report."

When she learned of Hammel's arrest more than two months later, all she could think was "what if?"

"If there was a police report filed, if he could have been arrested any earlier, then the following instances that happened at the bookstore, at Petland, they may not have happened. It could have saved other little kids from going through the trauma."



10tv had many of the same questions for COSI: What is their protocol in a situation like this? How did they respond that day, who did they notify, why didn't they call police?

COSI wouldn't answer any of those questions and refused to speak with 10TV on camera.

They released a statement saying they "responded immediately and appropriately based on the information (they) received at the time."

Columbus Police say after the mother notified them of the incident, COSI has cooperated fully with their investigation. Police do say they would have preferred to have been notified immediately.

Hammel is out on bond. He has pleaded not guilty and has a court hearing for next month.

Statement from COSI: