Sex Offender Approached Underage Teen at Concord Library: Cops

CONCORD, NH – A local sex offender was arrested on an assault charge after allegedly conversing with an underage teen in the Concord Public Library’s children’s section and then reportedly denying it to police, according to an arrest report and court affidavit.

Scott W. Gagnon, 49, of Centre Street, was arrested on Feb. 24, 2016, on a simple assault charge.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department and Concord District Court. It does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the name removal request process for NH Patch police reports.

According to a court affidavit, an officer was sent to the library on Feb. 23, after a staffer reported “suspicious activity” after an older man approached a boy in the children’s section of the library.

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The staffer stated that at just after 5 p.m. a man requested a pen and a piece of paper to wrote a note with. After giving him the items, the staffer stated that the man went over to computers in the children’s section, reportedly sat down next to a boy, and started speaking with him.

“(The library staffer) overheard the man asking the boy about his family, how many siblings he had, and if they were boys or girls,” according to the affidavit.

The staffer spoke with the man and asked him how they knew each other and the man reportedly stated that they were friends and the boy had been to his house. The staffer notified her supervisor and when she returned to the boy, the man was gone. She then questioned the boy who stated that the man lived nearby him and gave him a note with his contact information, according to the affidavit.

The officer ran the man’s information and found that Gagnon lived on Centre Street and was a registered sex offender, according to the report.

The officer then spoke to the boy, who is 13, and alleged that he met Gagnon a week or two before while walking home from the library and they began talking. According to the teen, Gagnon allegedly offered him a job at his house performing tasks like cleaning and vacuuming. The boy also related everything he had told the library staffer.

“(The teen) stated that during this interaction with Scott, he had an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach that something didn’t seem right,” according to the officer.

The boy’s mother was notified, stated she was unaware of the previous conversation, and said she didn’t want the man near her son, according to the report.

A few hours later, the officer visited with Gagnon at his apartment and he was allegedly intoxicated, slurring his speech, and very lethargic, according to the report. He reportedly denied drinking that evening but the officer alleged that his eyes were glossy and he smelled like alcohol.

When asked about why he was there, Gagnon reportedly stated he didn’t know and when asked about his visit to the library, “he paused,” and stated “nothing” had happened and denied any interaction with anyone at the library.

“Scott stated that he checked his credit score (on a computer) and left approximately 15 minutes later,” according to the affidavit.

After walking through the story twice, the officer told Gagnon it was time to tell the truth.

“After a long delay, Scott let out a big sigh and stated that he was using a computer on the second level of the library in the children’s section,” the officer alleged. “While there, Scott stated that he had a conservation with a boy.”

Gagnon also allegedly admitted to touching the boy in the shoulder, according to the report. The officer then asked Gagnon why he was hanging out in the children’s section and befriending young boys. He paused and after a long delay, allegedly stated, “I’m f----- up in the head. I have a problem.”

Gagnon, according to the officer, went to prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy, according to the report. He consented to a breathalyzer test and allegedly blew a 0.245 percent rating.

The officer filed an affidavit for assault – touching the boy’s shoulder – and he was arrested the next day.

According to the Nashua Telegraph, Gagnon was convicted of sexual assault in October 2010 after pleading guilty to assaulting a 15-year-old in 2009, plying the teen with alcohol, pot, and drugs at his apartment. He was slated to spend up to 13 years in prison but under a plea agreement, was sentenced to two to seven years, along with one to two years after a habitual offender crash in Nashua in December 2009. Gagnon was also convicted of two felony assault charges in 1998, according to the newspaper’s report.