MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. – Fred Piccolo, a former spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis who also served in other government communication roles statewide, was arrested Tuesday on a warrant for exposure of sexual organs, Manatee County jail records show.
Piccolo is accused of stopping his car in a neighborhood last month to ask for directions from a woman who was out for a walk. When the woman looked inside Piccolo’s car, she said he was “not wearing any clothes” and “holding his erect penis in his hand.”
Recommended Videos
Prosecutors in neighboring Sarasota County charged Piccolo with three similar sex offenses last year which had not been previously reported by news organizations. Piccolo pleaded not guilty to those exposure charges and is currently awaiting trial, court records show.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
Piccolo served as the communications director for the Florida Speaker of the House under former speakers Jose Oliva and Richard Corcoran before DeSantis tapped him to be the governor’s communications director in July 2020.
Piccolo left the governor’s office in January 2021 to work for the Florida Department of Education.
Most recently Piccolo worked as the director of marketing and media strategy at New College of Florida, where Corcoran serves president. Piccolo’s contact information was no longer on the school’s website Wednesday.
In a statement sent to News 6 after this story published, Piccolo’s attorney attributed his client’s alleged crimes to a medical condition.
“I would like to inform you that my client, Frederick Piccolo, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease,” said attorney Eric Reisinger. “I must also advise that the medications prescribed by his medical team have, regrettably, resulted in compulsive behavior and hypersexuality as side effects.”
Reisinger said Piccolo is actively working with his healthcare providers to mitigate his Parkinson’s symptoms while avoiding significant side effects.
“(These) side effects are causing Mr. Piccolo to behave in a manner inconsistent with his established character,” the attorney said.
A woman called 911 on March 28 to report that a man had stopped his vehicle and exposed himself after asking for directions, an affidavit filed by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office states.
While the woman was out for a walk in the gated Lakewood Ranch Golf & Country Club community, she told deputies a man authorities later identified as Piccolo drove up and asked for directions to Bee Ridge Road in Sarasota.
Piccolo allegedly told the woman he did not have his phone because “he just found out his girlfriend was married. Her husband came home ‘in the middle’ and he ran out with his just a shirt he grabbed”, an affidavit states.
The woman claims Piccolo drove off, turned around, pulled up alongside her “almost blocking her path” and asked her to repeat the directions, according to a report.
That’s when the woman said she noticed Piccolo was holding his penis.
Deputies said the alleged incident occurred about 2.4 miles from Piccolo’s home in Lakewood Ranch.
“This fact contradicts the story he told [the victim] as to why he would be naked and why he would need to stop in his own neighborhood to ask for directions as if it were a one time occurrence,” a deputy wrote.
The affidavit notes that Piccolo had three pending misdemeanor exposure charges in Sarasota County that allegedly occurred last fall.
In August, an employee of Banana Republic at the University Town Center Mall in Sarasota said she was helping Piccolo try on clothes in the store’s fitting room when he exposed himself, court records show.
“He was not wearing a shirt and his swim shorts were pulled down with the waist band extending across the front of his thighs in a manner that exposed his genitals as he was standing in the fitting room,” a probable cause affidavit states. “The defendant was using one hand in a stroking manner to masturbate as he was looking at her through the opened fitting room door.”
Surveillance cameras captured video of Piccolo leaving the store without purchasing anything, authorities said.
Twelve days later, a woman at the Dillard’s department store in the same mall said she was helping Piccolo select clothes when he exposed himself.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the victim approached the entryway of the fitting rooms and saw Piccolo “naked from ‘head to toe’”.
The next day, authorities said Piccolo returned to the Dillard’s store and asked a woman for assistance in one of the fitting rooms.
When the victim entered the fitting room, she said Piccolo “was totally undressed and naked”, an affidavit states.
Security cameras captured video of Piccolo’s “bizarre behavior” prior to the unwanted exposure, authorities said.
Piccolo was not arrested after the three alleged exposure incidents, court records show.
Instead, Piccolo was issued summonses to appear in court after prosecutors filed charges in October.
Piccolo has pleaded not guilty in all three Sarasota County cases, court records show.
Former State Rep. Jackie Toledo, a Tampa Republican who lost a primary bid for a congressional seat in 2022, sued Piccolo later that year for allegedly sending her “unwanted, unsolicited, inappropriate and grossly offensive harassing text messages and images.”
The messages, which were attached as exhibits in the lawsuit, included bare-chested selfies of Piccolo and comments about his wife’s breast-augmentation surgery.
“At least one image involved Mr. Piccolo taking a photo of his erection, while others involved Mr. Piccolo in various states of undress, generally only wearing undergarments,” Tampa attorney Dale Swope wrote in the 30-page complaint, calling the messages “not only inappropriate, but particularly offensive when they were, at times, sent in response to campaign-related questions.”
Piccolo, who said he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, denied Toledo’s allegations.
“I’ve known Jackie Toledo for over 10 years,” Piccolo told The News Service of Florida at the time. “I considered her a friend. At all times our relationship was professional and we engaged in banter back-and-forth as most friends do on campaigns. At no time did she express any outrage or offense at any of our banter. On the contrary Jackie always encouraged me in my exercise journey for my health as she knew of my condition.”
Toledo later dropped the lawsuit, court records show.