WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. – A Pizza Hut employee is accused of sexually battery on a 13-year-old boy he met on the gay dating app Grindr, according to the Winter Springs Police Department.
The victim told police he didn't know the man's name, he just had his contact saved as "Pizza Hut" in his phone because he knew that's where the man worked.
Police say 23-year-old Stephen Albertson met with the victim on Tuesday and drove him to a hidden driveway, where he then removed the boy from the vehicle and sexually battered him, according to the arrest report.
The boy told his mother what happened and she called police.
The teen was able to provide police with a picture that he said Albertson sent to him through Grindr. Police showed that picture to the manager at a Pizza Hut restaurant in Casselberry, and the manager was able to identify the man as Albertson, the report said.
Albertson is charged with sexual battery on a victim between 12-18 years old, using a computer/electronic device to solicit a minor, traveling to meet a minor and production of child pornography.
Albertson went in front of a judge Thursday afternoon. He was denied bond.
As the judge was reading off the charges, Albertson's lawyer interrupted and asked him to not say the charges out loud.
"I would just ask the court to proceed with setting bond. We don't need to inform everybody what the charges are. He knows what they are, I know what they are, and the court knows what they are," Albertson's lawyer said.
News 6 stopped by Albertson's home in Casselberry. A man who said he was family did not want to comment on the charges, but called Albertson a "nice kid."
News 6 also called the local franchise owner of the Casselberry Pizza Hut and the national media contact for comment on Albertson's arrest.
"We are appalled by this news and are fully cooperating with the local law enforcement’s investigation,” CFL Pizza said.