COCOA BEACH, Fla. – A quick-thinking dad and a beach rental employee helped catch a man police said pulled his pants down at the beach in front of a 7-year-old.
Monday, at The Resort on Cocoa Beach, police said Ray Torralbes, 69, exposed himself to the boy and then ran away as the boy’s father and Clayton Webster chased after him.
“I don’t understand how anybody could want to do that to a little kid,” Webster told your Cocoa Beach Community Correspondent James Sparvero. “To anybody, for that matter, but much less a little kid, you know.”
By pointing police in the right direction, officers caught Torralbes minutes later on the other side of A1A, just across the street from the hotel.
In his new arrest report, police said Torralbes claimed he was in the sand dunes going to the bathroom when “some kid was there.”
Detective Sergeant Taylor Payne with Cocoa Beach police told Sparvero how guests can stay vigilant and stay safe during the busiest time of the year.
“Every person can recognize when something is just off,” Payne said. “It only takes a few seconds, like in this instance.”
Payne said there’s more than one instance like this on Torralbes’ record.
Police said the 69-year-old was convicted in a 1986 public lewdness case in New York.
Payne said he couldn’t find Torralbes in Florida’s sex offender registry because he doesn’t have a prior case here.
“First, I’d like to touch on the courage that the child had,” Payne said. “Second, the father and the bystander sprung into action immediately.”
Webster said he was just doing the right thing.
“What everybody should do, right,” he said.
Torralbes is also accused of lying to police about his real name.
At the Brevard County jail, where he’s still at, his bond is more than $300,000.
“The allegations are highly concerning to the court,” Judge Clarissa Harrell told the defendant during his first court appearance.