LYNN — A 74-year-old man was arrested and charged with indecent assault and battery on a child after he was found with his zipper down with three children in his apartment Sunday afternoon.
Police responded to 20 Heaths Court shortly before 4 p.m. after a mother reported that she had found her 8-year-child in the apartment of James Finn. Two other children were also in his apartment, Lynn Police Lt. Michael Kmiec said.
According to court records, Finn lured the children to come inside his apartment with candy and exposed himself to them, asking one child to perform a sex act on him.
Finn was arrested after an investigation by responding officers and detectives, Kmiec said.
Finn was charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, open and gross lewdness and dissemination of harmful material/pornography to a minor.
He was arraigned in Lynn District Court on Monday and was held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Dec. 7.
Finn’s attorney, Lisa Core, said she had no comment.
After responding to the building, police found three distraught parents, who were crying and shaking as they tried to explain what had happened to officers, according to a police report from Lynn District Court.
One woman told police that she had been looking for her daughter, heard children in one apartment, and knocked on the door, which was answered by Finn who had his zipper down and appeared drunk. She said the children usually play throughout the building with kids from another apartment, court records show.
The woman told police it took Finn a couple of minutes to answer the door. He didn’t say much, but asked the kids to come out. The woman told police her daughter had told her that Finn had his “birdie out” while she was in the apartment, which another parent explained was a safe word they use for a man’s penis, court records show.
One child told police that she and her friend were playing outside when they noticed the door to Finn’s apartment was cracked open. She said Finn came outside and offered them candy, which led to the three children going inside his apartment, where he allowed them to play with his computer, court records show.
The girl told police that Finn exposed himself at one point and asked her to lick his penis. She said Finn put photos of naked girls on the computer and asked her brother to look at them, court records show.
A child told police that at one point, Finn went to the bathroom and noticed that he came back out with his “birdie” out. One father told police that Finn had touched his daughter’s buttocks before her mother knocked on the door, court records show.
A boy told police that they had gone to Finn’s apartment to eat candy and play with the computer. At one point, he said Finn started talking about his penis and told him that “maybe one day you can lick it.” He told police that Finn had asked him to type “hot girls” on the computer and that Finn started touching himself over his pants at one point, court records show.
All three kids told police that they didn’t want anyone to get in trouble, court records show.
As officers were about to approach the apartment, a woman who identified herself as Finn’s wife was arriving home from work. Finn walked out of the apartment a few moments later and asked police if there was anything he could for them as he is the trustee of the building. Finn was subsequently arrested, court records show.
