Salem Police have arrested a 60-year-old Salem man on a Class 3 felony charge of traveling to meet a minor in connection with an incident in Bryan Memorial Park in August.
Donald Bumgarner of North Miller was taken into custody at the Salem Police Station Thursday after questioning. He’s being held in the Marion County Jail pending a final decision on charges.
Salem Police say Bumgarner went to the Bryan Memorial Park bathrooms after two juveniles, who told him they were 14, responded to graffiti on the bathroom walls giving a phone number to call for a good time. The juveniles, who were actually 16, say they found the graffiti with Bumgarner’s phone number and license plate number after Bumgarner allegedly had passed them in the park in a vehicle with the same license plate number and had made an obscene gesture towards them. Police say when Bumgarner returned to the park the juveniles confronted him and there was no sexual activity between them. The juveniles then contacted police.
A Salem police detective was able to confirm Bumgarner leaving the bathrooms on video surveillance.
Bumgarner admitted to police to going up to the park for another reason and claimed someone else was responsible for putting the graffiti on the wall.
