Mall Santa lawyers up after a mom accuses him of "spanking" her child

Mall Santas are sort of creepy. Not

 

mall Santas, not

 

mall Santas, but just the concept of mall Santas in general. Think about it: you take your kid to sit on a stranger's lap, and he has a little chat with them while wearing a disguise, before giving them a present that they didn't ask for. All the while, your child believes that the person they're talking to is either a) the "real" Santa, b) some omniscient helper of Santa's, or c) another elaborate lie you've made up in order to hide the fact that it's probably just some guy who wants to help spread some

. At the time, it may seem like a bit of harmless fun - but it's still putting your child in the arms of someone you've never met before. And sometimes that can have terrible consequences, as one mall Santa in Indiana recently found out. The suited-up

forced out of his job earlier this week after a mother claimed that her child was "spanked" during a visit to the grotto. Jessica Chandler, the mother of an autistic five-year-old boy who went to Bloomington Mall to visit Santa, called police on Monday to report that Father Christmas had spanked him. “The Santa at the College Mall in Bloomington took it upon himself to spank [my son] because he wasn’t following directions,” she said in a Facebook post which has since been deleted. This prompted the company who employs the Santas, as well as the police, to open an investigation into what happened. As a result, the Santa, who has not been named, started to receive

 

threatening messages. The abuse became too much for him, and he was forced to leave his position at the mall. However, instead of simply walking away from the matter, the Santa has hired an attorney, and is claiming that Chandler's remarks amount to defamation. “I really don’t think Ms. Chandler understands what she’s done,” said Jeremy Schnepper, the attorney who was hired to look into the case. “He’s absolutely devastated.” According to him, the Santa had worked at the mall for many years, and has never spanked a child while working in his role. Schnepper also added that the man is a "real bearded Santa", and his reputation could be destroyed by these allegations. The day after Chandler initially made the post, she contacted the police in order to inform them that she "may have overreacted". It also transpired that she did not witness the event first-hand, and that it was actually the boy's caretaker who reported the improper conduct. A number of people who were present at the scene when the spanking allegedly happened denied seeing anything of the sort take place, and others have come forward on social media to offer their support for the Santa. “I will stand by this Santa because he has been there for my students year after year and has been the good in their lives when they feel like the world around them is crumbling,” said one

user, a special education teacher. The Santa has said that all he wants at this point is an apology from Chandler, but she has yet to comment further on the matter.