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Haverhill Sex Offender Charged With Groping Child In NH Walmart

PLAISTOW, NH (CBS) - Police have charged a convicted sex offender from Massachusetts with groping a child inside a Plaistow Walmart.

Ronald Beausoleil, 33, of Haverhill was arrested after officers found him in his car in the store parking lot Monday night, hours after the attack.

"It was a credible threat to society in general," said Plaistow Police Sgt. Jason Mazza. "It was huge to get the information disseminated as soon as possible."

Investigators say Beusoleil groped a nine-year-old child in a toy aisle and then ran away. The child told store management what happened.

The victim was not hurt but was treated by medical personnel as a precaution.

"It was just amazing that the deputy was able to find him in the same parking lot within a 24 hour period," said Sgt. Mazza. "He was back in the same plaza it was just unsettling."

Beausoleil, a level 3 sex offender in Massachusetts, was charged with aggravated felonious sexual assault, theft - shoplifting and operating after license suspension.

He is being held on $25,000 cash bail and is expected to be arraigned Tuesday.

WBZ-TV's Bobby Sisk contributed to this report.

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