Man accused of raping girl at a Kennesaw park
KENNESAW, Ga. (CBS46) - A man is in the Cobb County jail, accused of raping a girl at park in Kennesaw.
Austin Stovall is charged with rape, aggravated sexual battery, child molestation, false imprisonment, kidnapping and cruelty to children in the first degree.
According to a criminal warrant, Stovall raped a girl younger than 16 years old in a men’s restroom at Swift-Cantrell Park around 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 8. The warrant states Stovall called the girl over to his vehicle and told her he would hurt her if she didn’t follow him from his vehicle to the restroom. The warrant states he forced the child into the corner of the men’s restroom and raped her.
“A child deserves innocence and that was taken away from this person,” said Kennesaw Police Officer David Buchanan.
Buchanan said the department is increasing patrols in the park. While there are no working cameras in the park right now, he said the city was already in the process of installing cameras there.
“This is actually the first time this has happened so we want to ensure our citizens and anyone who visits our parks that this is rare, this is an anomaly, this has never happened before and we’re going to do our best to make sure it never happens again,” said Buchanan.
“This is the rarest of all rare occurrences and it is tragic but understand we are a safe city,” he added.
Multiple agencies worked together to arrest Stovall, who is in jail with no bond.
Kennesaw Police Chief William Westenberger released the following statement:
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