Convicted Pedophile Dressed As Santa
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone snapped this photo of a man dressed as Santa. It was taken inside this fast food restaurant on Saturday. Turns out this Santa was 54-year-old Norman Burbank. In 1998, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the sexual assault of an 11-year-old boy. Officers with the police department arrived at the restaurant. They handcuffed Burbank and began to question him. But turns out he wasn`t breaking the law. So they let him go. We went to Burbank`s home on Monday. Are you Norman Burbank?</s>NORMAN BURBANK: Yes, I am.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But he told us he had no comment.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m thinking I better keep an eye on Santa.</s>PINSKY: Better keep an eye on Santa, indeed. Police say they received a tip that a convicted pedophile was playing Santa at a fast food restaurant and children were sitting on his lap. The Santa, Mr. Norman Burbank, was released after investigators determined he was not in violation of any laws in Texas. Sam, what else do we know?</s>SCHACHER: My gosh, I`m so nauseous with this story. His name is Norman Charles Burrbank. He is 54 years old. He went to prison in 1992 for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy. He did his time in Ohio then he decides to relocate when he gets released to Bay Town, Texas. Now investigators determined he was in compliance based on the terms of his prison release, which have not been made public and did not violate, as you just said, any Texas law.</s>PINSKY: OK, Annaleese, you guys and your slippery slopes, help us understand how the law allows this man to play Santa.</s>SCHACHER: Yet the guy in the last block is being prosecuted.</s>PINSKY: What is it about the legal system that allows this to happen?</s>GOETZ: Texas is the antithesis of the nanny state. They have very few laws on the books when it comes to this type of thing. What they`ve essentially done in this case is pass the buck to the employer and said, McDonald`s, it`s on you when you are hiring someone to see if they`re going to cause an issue. If the crimes they`ve previously committed, if it`s going to --</s>PINSKY: Hold on. Let me make sure I hear you. So the liability goes to McDonald`s, right, so they may have some problems here. They actually gave us a statement. This is from McDonald`s. Quote, "This employee no longer works for our organization. We are reviewing processes to ensure we remain focused on the safety of customers and employees. McDonald`s did not confirm if he was a full-time employee or hired to may Santa during the holiday season. So we don`t know if there was a back ground check performed or if he was a guy that putted off the friar to put on a suit to run through the playground there. I don`t know. The law says he can play Santa but still.</s>HO: I don`t care about the law. This is my worst nightmare that people dressed up as those Disney characters --</s>PINSKY: We`ll hear from all those people, I`m sure they`re very well- meaning people that love kids and are playing these characters, as well. But it is the worst case scenario if somebody crawls into one of those costumes and gets their hands on a kid.</s>HO: Yes. And this is my biggest fear about individuals who are pedophiles. This is a sexual orientation, Dr. Drew. It`s not really about changing their sexual orientation. They`re going to be attracted to children. So you have to control them so they don`t commit these crimes to hurt other people. So putting him in a Santa Claus suit and letting kids on his lap. That`s like letting a child be running around --</s>PINSKY: It`s like he telling a heroin addict to live in a crack house. That`s not a safe place for somebody with those proclivities. Vanessa, I know you`ve got some thoughts here. Imagine though your daughter was sitting on this guy`s lap?</s>BARNETT: That was my first thought because we did the whole Santa pictures and on the lap, and smiling for the cameras and --</s>PINSKY: She didn`t look like too happy. I saw those.</s>BARNETT: But the second picture was actually really great, and she enjoyed the experience. Let me tell you, I usually try to be a rational person sometimes. But let me find out that this Santa had anything in his background and I am liable to take a knife to his penis. And that McDonald`s would be called Vanessa Barnett. Every McDonald`s in bay town would have any name on it. You don`t play with kids and you don`t put --</s>PINSKY: Hold on. Slow down. I`ve got to go to break. Anneelise, you can get your client set up for the big action. We`ll be right back after this.