The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office arrested six people at Caspersen Beach on Nov. 16 on several charges of indecent exposure. Reports say the county park was the site of conduct deemed inappropriate for the public.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, residents had contacted detectives to report inappropriate conduct in an area often hosting children and families. Detectives said that throughout the day they also saw four other men either masturbating or asking under cover cops for sex or touching the cops inappropriately. A spokesperson with the office declined to say how long the investigation had been ongoing before the arrests.
The six men arrested, ranging from ages 37 to 81, were either engaged in inappropriate conduct or exposed their genitals to undercover detectives who were monitoring the beach. The activity reportedly happened near several picnic tables and near the more clandestine eastern trails near the waterway.
The police said they had gotten tips that the park might be used for sex. In their sting, deputies said they saw two men performing oral sex on each other on a trail.
All six men are out on bond and will face a judge sometime in December.
It was unclear at press time whether the men had been charged with indecent exposure or behavior in the past. A spokesperson with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office did say, however, that continued monitoring of the park will continue and that more arrests could materialize if the behavior continues.
“We don’t care what people do in the privacy of their homes,” an operator with the office said. “But this type of behavior cannot be tolerated in a park setting, whether it’s two men, two women or a man and a woman.”
