LONGWOOD, Fla. – A Seminole County judge granted 21-year-old Melick Cook bond Thursday afternoon after he was accused of exposing himself to a teenage girl while she was grocery shopping with her mother.
Cook is charged with indecent exposure.
The Seminole County Sheriff's Office says the incident happened on Feb. 25 at the Publix on S.R. 434 in Longwood. The 15-year-old teenager told authorities she was shopping in aisle four when a man flashed her.
She continued shopping with her mother until she spotted the same man again in another aisle. According to the arrest report, she told her mother, We can't go down the aisle. The man showed me his 'penis' while we were in the olive oil aisle."
The mother alerted store managers and called 911.
"He's in the store walking around with it out in the aisle," the mother told 911. "Then she told me and then I told the managers and I asked if they could catch it on tape, that they probably caught it on tape."
According to the report, the mother and store managers saw the man run out of the store and drive off. They were able to get the license plate.
Investigators traced the vehicle to Cook. He is a student at Seminole State College.
Cook made his first appearance Thursday. The judge granted him a $500 bond on the conditions he doesn't go back to the Publix, stays away from minors, and won't go near any schools. The judge also added this appeared to be a random incident.
Shoppers said they can't believe this happened in their store.
"It's a Publix, it's kind of a family place so I didn't expect something like that to happen," Rodrigo Villavencio said.
"You should be able to go to the grocery store without having to be worried about someone exposing themselves," Katie Murphy said.