Fred Piccolo Jr., the former New College communications director accused multiple times of indecent exposure, avoided arrest for months due to identification delays, a missed opportunity by a deputy to act on arrest authority and the prosecutor’s decision to downgrade a recommended felony charge.

Records and interviews reviewed by Suncoast Searchlight and The Florida Trident shed new light on how the case unfolded — offering a fuller picture of what law enforcement knew, when they knew it and how decisions by deputies and the state attorney shaped the response.

Retail workers at Banana Republic and Dillard’s at University Town Center reported that Piccolo behaved inappropriately on at least five occasions between August and September. In one case, an employee alleged Piccolo masturbated in front of her. Twice, he allegedly exposed himself. Other times, he asked lewd questions about how his shorts fit him, including whether they were “too tight in the crotch region,” according to sheriff’s reports. 

According to a Dillard’s employee who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, female staff had reported Piccolo’s inappropriate behavior to store management multiple times. 

“He went and tried on some underwear, put the underwear on, and basically flagged an associate over to the fitting room,” he said. “And then that’s when he would have exposed himself.”

Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman told reporters that deputies were unable to identify Piccolo until the fifth incident, on Sept. 4, when mall security footage showed him exiting Dillard’s and getting into his vehicle. The camera also captured his license plate, which the agency was able to trace back to Piccolo. 

Before that, Hoffman said, deputies had issued a bulletin to other agencies in an attempt to identify the then-unknown man seen in earlier reports and surveillance footage.

When Piccolo returned to Dillard’s the next day, on Sept. 5, staff immediately called the Sheriff’s Department, which arrived as he was leaving the store and watched him enter his vehicle to leave. Deputies pulled him over in the parking lot and issued him a trespass citation but did not arrest him. 

At that point, two store employees also identified Piccolo as the person who had exposed himself on prior occasions, the report noted. 

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‘A mistake was made,’ sheriff says

When asked why Piccolo was not arrested on Sept. 5, Hoffman said the deputy on the scene did not realize a 2020 change in Florida law allows officers to make an arrest for exposure of a sexual organ upon probable cause and without a warrant from a judge. 

The legislative change, made in 2020, was intended to help officers act faster, since incidents often end before police arrive and delays in obtaining a warrant allow repeat offenses.

“A mistake was made there,” Hoffman acknowledged. 

With Piccolo now identified, the agency filed probable cause affidavits recommending criminal charges against him. For the two alleged exposure incidents at Dillard’s, the investigating officer recommended first-degree misdemeanor charges of exposure of sexual organs. 

But he recommended a second-degree felony charge of lewd and lascivious exhibition for the alleged masturbation incident at Banana Republic, according to the report. 

“The state attorney declined to charge that offense,” Hoffman said, “and filed a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure.” 

Andrea Mogensen, a Board Certified Criminal lawyer in Sarasota, reviewed the statute for lewd and lascivious exhibition.

“The State Attorney’s charging decision was correct because that statute makes it a felony only when the lewd behavior is done in the presence of someone under the age of 16,” Mogensen said. “It’s definitely the most embarrassing misdemeanor you can be charged with, but it’s only a felony when there’s repeat violations or involves a minor.”

In response to questions about the decision to downgrade the charge or why a felony charge of second subsequent violation was not applied, Twelfth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Ed Brodsky indicated that he could not ethically comment on a pending case. 

Piccolo hired and fired since then

Three months after the spate of mall incidents, Piccolo was able to get a high-profile job at New College — serving as its director of marketing & media, strategic communications — and pass the school’s background check through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which flags only “fingerprint-based arrests.” 

It wasn’t until April 15 that he was arrested by Manatee County deputies after an incident in which Piccolo allegedly exposed himself to a woman in Lakewood Ranch. That incident, which occurred on March 28, was ultimately classified as a felony.

Manatee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Randy Warren said deputies reviewed Piccolo’s prior run-ins with Sarasota County deputies, which led to the decision to charge him with a felony and arrest him in mid-April.

“It raises it up,” he said of the previous charges. “It’s not just going to be a notice to appear at that point.”

Piccolo has pleaded not guilty to the three misdemeanor charges and the felony charge and is out on a $100,000 bond with supervision. 

After Piccolo’s arrest, his attorney, Eric Reisinger, told Suncoast Searchlight and the Florida Trident that Piccolo takes medications to treat Parkinson’s Disease which have caused him to “behave in a manner inconsistent with his established character.”

New College terminated Piccolo on April 16.

Suncoast Searchlight reporter Derek Gilliam contributed to this story.

This story was jointly produced by Suncoast Searchlight and The Florida Trident. Suncoast Searchlight is a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties. Learn more at suncoastsearchlight.org. The Florida Trident is a local investigative news outlet focusing on government accountability and transparency across Florida. Learn more at floridatrident.org.