Candy thief avoids exposure charges

San Francisco prosecutors and public defenders have agreed to disagree on whether a transient man was trying to remove stolen candy from his pants or playing with his penis in public.

Eugene Childs, 59, was found not guilty Friday of indecent exposure and committing a lewd act in public following an Oct. 4 incident outside of a Walgreens in the Castro neighborhood, according to the public defender’s office.

Childs reportedly tried to steal M&Ms, chocolate bars and Skittles, and he managed to avoid the detection of Walgreens employees by stuffing the candy down his shirt. The sweets eventually slipped into his trousers, said Tamara Barak Aparton, a spokeswoman for the public defender’s office.

A disabled veteran who uses a wheelchair, Childs then left the store and set up outside a nearby AIDS clinic, where he lay on the ground beside his wheelchair, unzipped his pants and took stock of his candy, Aparton said.

Two employees of the business photographed and videotaped Childs as they asked him to leave, setting off an argument. In a cell phone video, Childs’ buttocks are briefly visible as he pulls up two pairs of baggy pants while clutching his candy, according to the public defender.

Childs avoided charges for the stolen candy but was accused of indecent exposure and committing a lewd act, as well as battery for spitting on one of the women. The latter was the only charge in which he was convicted.

A spokesperson for the San Francisco district attorney’s office, who declined to go on record by name, noted that jurors relied on testimony from a witness who did not have a proper angle to see the alleged lewd act, while another woman testified that Childs masturbated for about a minute.

In a news release titled “Man with Sweet Tooth Handling Candy, Not Penis, ” the public defender’s office celebrated the verdict and accused police of asking witnesses leading questions to arrest Childs on charges that could have required him to register as a sex offender every 30 days because he is homeless.

“If you are convicted of something where you have to register as a sex offender, a misdemeanor can essentially turn into a life sentence,” Aparton said. “It’s great the jury looked into all the evidence.”

She added, in an interview, “We did not employ any kind of chocoholic defense.”

Childs was sentenced to six months in jail on the battery conviction. His scheduled release date is March 6.