Sex Offender Charged After Encounter With Boy, 9

A 9-year-old boy told police that a man prevented him from leaving the bathroom at a Fairfax County sporting goods store Saturday afternoon, and then tried to engage him in inappropriate activity. Fairfax police investigated and on Sunday arrested a 47-year-old Alexandria man and charged him with abduction with intent to defile and indecent liberties.

The incident occurred in the Dick's Sporting Goods store at 5714 Columbia Pike in the Baileys Crossroads area. The boy told his father he needed to use the restroom about 1 p.m., and police said a surveillance camera recorded a man entering the bathroom shortly after the boy. The boy emerged, told his father of the encounter and described the man.

Police said the boy was not touched or injured in the bathroom. The next day, police arrested Steven D. Liggon, 47, at his apartment in the 5000 block of Seminary Road. State records show Liggon is a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty to abduction and sexual battery in 1989 and received a 25-year prison sentence. It could not be determined yesterday when Liggon was released from prison, but he would have been eligible for parole.