A 42-year-old registered sex offender and Lawrence resident is in the Douglas County Jail after allegedly asking a child at a downtown restaurant Sunday to follow him into the men’s restroom, Lawrence police spokesman Sgt. Trent McKinley said Monday.

Jonathan Stephen Nelson

Jonathan Stephen Nelson is accused of approaching a “preteen female” across the restaurant from where the girl’s mother was seated just before 6 p.m. Sunday, McKinley said. Nelson then allegedly put his hand on the girl’s shoulder and “whispered into the child’s ear,” asking her to follow him into the restroom, McKinley said.

Police were notified of the occurrence and spoke with the girl and witnesses at the restaurant while Nelson sat with an adult female and juvenile male at a nearby table, McKinley said. Police then attempted to speak with Nelson, but said he was intoxicated and uncooperative.

The adult female at the table with Nelson informed police that Nelson had “sat down at their table uninvited” just before the officers entered the restaurant, McKinley said. The woman told police the man allegedly made a statement about the juvenile boy at the table, which McKinley said was “disturbing” given the “context with the situation at hand.”

Nelson continued to be uncooperative with the officers, but police were eventually able to arrest him on suspicion of aggravated indecent solicitation of a child, McKinley said.

Nelson has been in the Douglas County Jail without bond since Sunday evening, pending a charging decision by the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant to the District Attorney Cheryl Wright Kunard said Monday that if prosecutors decide to charge Nelson, he will make his first appearance in court Tuesday afternoon.

Nelson was convicted in 2010 of felony sexual exploitation of a child. The offense involved a 5-year-old girl and occurred in Olathe in 2007, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s public offender registry. He has been registered as a sex offender since his release from prison in September 2012.