In March 2025, reports resurfaced online that law enforcement authorities had arrested Stacy Lee Austin — the owner of a Chick-fil-A franchise in Ohio — on a charge that he committed a sexual crime against a minor in North Carolina.
The claim appeared on multiple social media sites, including Instagram (archived), Facebook (archived), X (archived), and TikTok (archived).
The claim is correct, according to a Facebook post by the Rowan County Sheriff's Office. Deputies arrested the 49-year-old on a charge of statutory sexual offense against a child. Although some social media posts in early 2025 implied Austin's arrest had occurred quite recently, it actually took place on March 5, 2024, which was a Tuesday (not a Sunday, as some tongue-in-cheek posts claimed, alluding to the fast-food restaurant's operating hours).
According to the sheriff's office Facebook post, dated March 7, 2024, deputies responded to a reported breaking and entering and found Austin with the resident's 15-year-old child. The post claimed he "admitted to the sexual acts" and had been communicating with the child via social media.
We called the St. Clairsville, Ohio, Chick-fil-A location Austin owned, and an employee confirmed the location had a new owner and said Austin was no longer the owner. We reached out to both Chick-fil-A and the Rowan County Sheriff's Office seeking comment, and will update this story if we receive a response.
It was unclear whether Austin was still being held in the Rowan County jail (the inmate directory page is not up to date, as of this writing) or what the status of his case was.