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ATHOL – On Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, at approximately 7:05 p.m., the evening manager of the Hannaford Supermarket located at 150 New Athol Road called police to report that a male customer exposed himself to a 17-year-old female cashier.
Officer Paul Forand of the Athol Police Department was dispatched to the Hannaford Supermarket. When he arrived on scene, the supermarket manager escorted Officer Forand to the security office to review the security camera footage of the incident.
(The account and quotations in this article were taken from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Forand.)
On the security camera footage, Officer Forand said he observed a middle-aged white male wearing a gray shirt with a skull and crossbones-style logo on it, black shorts, and a black baseball hat, standing in front of the cashier as she was working.
“Officer Forand observed the male pulling at his groin area and crouching over often in what appeared to be an attempt to cover his groin area. The male also looked around numerous times in what appeared to be an attempt to see if anyone was watching him,” Officer Forand said. “Officer Forand observed what appeared to be the male paying cash for his groceries. In the same frame, Officer Forand observed what appeared to be the end, or tip, of a penis protruding from the male’s pants. Officer Forand observed the male pull his shirt over his groin area and then exit the store.”
With the security camera footage, Officer Forand tracked the male as he exited the building into the parking lot and to a red SUV. The man then drove the SUV passed the main entrance of the store, where Officer Forand paused the video and got a viewable image of the front license plate number.
Officer Forand called the plate number into dispatch. It came back to a 2019 red Ford Escape registered to Adrienne Berry of 1 Charles Street in Orange. Dispatch then checked the address and was able to locate a male party, identified as Robert Kilian, that was registered through the RMV at the same address. Dispatch sent Kilian’s photo to Officer Forand, who identified him as the suspect in the supermarket’s video surveillance footage.
According to police, Kilian is a 43-year-old employee of Maki Lumber.
Officer Forand then spoke with the cashier in a conference room in the supermarket. The cashier – who was confirmed to be 17 years old – started the conversation by saying that she didn’t know how to explain what happened without being crude. Officer Forand told the cashier that he had identified the man who exposed himself to her, but didn’t give away any of Kilian’s identifying information.
Officer Forand asked the cashier to explain what happened.
“[The cashier] stated she was ringing up Robert’s groceries and believed he paid cash for them, but stated ‘everything kind of blurred,’” Officer Forand said. “[The cashier] stated at the end of the transaction, Robert stepped to the side and went to hand [her] cash for the groceries. [The cashier] stated that as she looked over to collect the cash, she saw Robert’s penis protruding from his pants. [The cashier] stated there was no question that she saw Robert’s penis. [The cashier] stated she continued in her duties as a cashier until her shift leader came by so she could report the incident.”
Officer Forand asked the cashier if she was willing to provide a written statement and she said yes. He then called her father who then gave verbal consent for his daughter to provide the written statement to police.
After speaking with the victim’s father, Officer Forand asked her if the incident was disturbing to her. The victim responded telling Officer Forand that she was both shocked and disturbed by the incident.
Officer Forand and several other responding officers from the Athol Police Department, then went to Kilian’s residence in Orange to speak with him.
When the officers arrived at Kilian’s 1 Charles Street residence, they saw the red Ford Escape from the security camera footage in the garage.
Officer Forand then knocked on the front door. Kilian answered the door in the same skull and crossbones shirt and black shorts he was wearing at the supermarket.
Officer Forand informed Kilian why he was at his residence, then read him his Miranda Rights from a card he carries in his pocket.
“Robert stated he was adjusting himself because he has hernia issues,” Officer Forand said. “Officer Forand informed Robert he was under arrest and placed him in handcuffs.”
Kilian was transported to the Athol Police Department where he was booked on the following charges: Open and Gross Lewdness (for intentionally protruding his penis and exposing it in a public place [Hannaford] which was done in such a way as to shock the cashier, who was not only shocked, but disgusted, and reported the incident to her supervisor in a timely manner) and Disturbing the Peace (for creating an environment where his actions and conduct did in fact annoy a person).
Kilian’s bail was set at $10,040.
He was arraigned in Orange District Court on Sept. 15.
Kilian is scheduled to appear in court again on Oct. 3 for a pretrial hearing.
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