BAYTOWN, Texas – Police were called to a Baytown fast food restaurant after a registered sex offender was found playing the role of Santa Claus inside.
"We received an anonymous call that morning that this person was a registered sex offender, and that he was playing the role of Santa and had children in his lap for photographs," said Eric Freed with the Baytown Police Department.
The man was identified as 54-year-old Norman Burbank. Convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy back in 1998, Burbank was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The crime, according to investigators, happened in Ohio but Burbank moved to Texas in 2013.
Officers with the Baytown Police Department handcuffed Burbank and questioned him but ultimately let him go because he wasn't breaking the law.
"Him putting on a Santa Claus costume and having children in his lap, however unsettling that is for parents to hear, it was not a violation of Texas law," Freed said.
Local 2 legal analyst Brian Wice explained that unless a sex offender is on parole or probation that has a stipulation requiring the convicted to stay away from children under 17, it isn't against the law.
"What's right isn't always legal," he said. "And what's legal isn't always right."
Local 2 knocked on the door of Burbank's Baytown home but he wasn't interested in discussing the situation.
It's not clear if he was given a background check before being hired to work at the restaurant. Local 2 did reach out to McDonald's and asked them that question, but never heard back.
The fast food chain did issue a statement saying, "We take this matter very seriously as the safety of our guests are our top priority. We are looking into the situation and gathering all the evidence."