PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A 78-year-old man was arrested Tuesday after he exposed himself to customers at a Bealls and a TJ Maxx in Port St. Lucie, police said.
Georgios Tsikoudis was arrested by the Martin County Sheriff's Office on three counts of exposure of sexual organs.
Port St. Lucie police said Tsikoudis exposed his genitals while walking through the TJ Maxx on Southwest Village Parkway in September and the Bealls on U.S. Highway 1 last month.
Police said the first incident occurred Sept. 1 while Tsikoudis was walking behind a shopper at the TJ Maxx, but he left after being confronted by store employees.
It wasn't until March 18 when police said the same man, later identified as Tsikoudis, made unwanted comments to a shopper at the Bealls while his hands were down his pants.
"He basically exposed himself, masturbated while following a female customer around the store," Police Chief Richard Del Toro said. "It's disturbing because ... I have a wife. I have two daughters. It's disgusting."
Another shopper told police the man exposed his genitals.
Detectives used surveillance video to create a bulletin in the hopes of identifying the man. Within a day after the bulletin was disseminated, police said, detectives identified Tsikoudis, leading to a warrant for his arrest.
"Ironically the suspect was wearing the same clothing in both incidents," Del Toro said, "and when they pulled up his driver's license he was wearing the same shirt."
Del Toro said Tsikoudis partially confessed and gave police a reason why.
"[He claimed] that he had some sort of condition that he had to relieve himself of due to itching down in that groin region," Del Toro said, "but we weren't buying it."
Miletsy Desarden didn't buy it either.
"No, definitely not," Desarden said.
Desarden said she comes to the shopping plaza all the time, and said it's often packed with women and children. She said it could have been her.
"That’s crazy. Yeah, inappropriate and it just doesn’t feel right at all, its dangerous being exposed like that," Desarden said.
Del Toro said Tsikoudis doesn't have a prior record, but detectives are taking a look at previous cases to see if Tsikoudis could be to them.
"Peeping Tom, prowler-type cases, because clearly he's done this twice," Del Toro said. "It's not his first time."
Del Toro is asking anyone who may have had similar encounters with the suspect to come forward.