A Dollar General manager in Philippi, West Virginia is facing a soliciting a minor charge after a teenage girl told deputies he locked her inside the store, paid for her party supplies, and then asked what she would do for him in return. According to the Barbour County Sheriff’s Office, 35-year-old Jeffrey Malcolm waved the girl in, told her “Well, now you are locked in,” and made inappropriate comments. She left when other employees stepped outside and reported the encounter to her mother. Deputies described her as crying and visibly shaken.
Investigators say Malcolm admitted locking the door and told them it followed his training. He also admitted to drinking on the job, with a blood-alcohol level of 0.136%. He denied the solicitation allegation. Deputies seized his phone, and the girl told them she had previously seen Malcolm taking photos of underage girls at a fair the week before. A coworker told investigators she had been instructed not to ring up the girl’s purchase. Malcolm is being held at Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $40,000 bond.
The case raises questions that travel well beyond West Virginia, including how retail managers are vetted, how alcohol use on the job gets missed, and how safe kids really are in the stores they visit alone. Have you changed how you let your kids run errands by themselves? Let us know in the comments.
