Cabot's Ice Cream Owner: 'Everybody's Been Asking Me'

NEWTON, MA — On Sunday evening, a teen came into Cabot's Ice Cream shop at its busiest time, and a few hours after she left someone from her home called police to report that while she was standing in line someone touched her inappropriately.

Newton Police sent detectives to ask Cabot's owner Joe Prestejohn to let them review video surveillance that the shop rolls at all times. Prestejohn said this was the first he'd heard of any such incident.

"No one brought anything to my attention," he told Patch over the phone after a number of people came into the shop asking what happened at the family owned and operated old-fashioned ice cream parlor and restaurant.

Prestejohn said he doesn't know anything except that detectives couldn't see any obvious sign of inappropriate touching from the video. And he says he's been telling concerned customers over and over they shouldn't have anything to worry about.

"It's not like it's unsafe here, we've never had any problems here before," he said of his iconic ice cream parlor that's been in business since 1969. "There's so many people around all the time, it's a family atmosphere, we don't even serve alcohol."

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A log entry in the Newton Police online public log noted a report of an indecent assault at Cabot's address occurred on Sunday, but police said that log was published in error because that information is not meant to be public, according to law. Newton Police Department officials said they also do not comment on reports of indecent assault as a matter of state law.

Sexual assault crimes in Newton are rare. Although Newton Police do not discuss details of individual cases, they do report the frequency. So far this year there has been one reported rape and three incidents of indecent assault, which includes inappropriate fondling.