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Suncoast Searchlight: New College communications director avoided arrest for months

Written by on Saturday, May 3, 2025

It took five separate incidents for Piccolo to be identified.

By Alice Herman/Suncoast Searchlight

Original Air Date: May 2, 2025

Host: How did Fred Piccolo Jr. avoid arrest and then get hired by a public university for a high-profile job? Suncoast Searchlight reporter Alice Herman offers more details.

Blue and yellow graphic of a searchlight shining from above on the west coast of the state of Florida with the text "Suncoast Searchlight."

Alice Herman: Fred Piccolo Jr. was accused multiple times of indecent exposure. But the former New College communications director 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. They offer a fuller picture of what law enforcement knew, when they knew it, and how decisions by deputies and the state attorney shaped the response.

Booking photo of Fred Piccolo Jr.

Manatee County Sheriff’s booking photo of Fred Piccolo Jr. via Suncoast Searchlight.

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 that 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. 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 September 4, 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.

Sign out front of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office headquarters.

Photo via Suncoast Searchlight.

When Piccolo returned to Dillard’s the next day, on September 5, staff immediately called the Sheriff’s Department. Deputies 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. 

When asked why Piccolo was not arrested on September 5, Hoffman said the deputy on the scene did not know about a 2020 change in Florida law. A new 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,” said Hoffman. 

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. 

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.”

She added: “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. 

"New College of Florida Founded 1960" sign out in front of a building.

Photo by Emily Le Coz via Suncoast Searchlight.

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 and media, strategic communications. He passed 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.

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 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.

This has been Alice Herman, reporting for Suncoast Searchlight. Thanks to Derek Gilliam for contributing to this story. To read the full article produced by Suncoast Searchlight and the Florida Trident, go to suncoastsearchlight.org/piccolo-new-college-delayed-arrest-avoided-jail-sheriff.

 

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