Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Isaiah Valentin, 27, was arrested yesterday at Veterans Park and charged with lewd/lascivious exhibition and other charges after allegedly exposing himself to children in the bathroom at the park.

An Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to Veterans Park (7400 SW 41st Place) at about 2:14 p.m. yesterday in response to a call from a teacher who was supervising a field trip. She said several students had reported that a man was masturbating in the bathroom.

The teacher reportedly went into the bathroom and told the man to come out, but he stayed in the stall. When the deputy arrived, he went into the bathroom, identified himself as law enforcement, and asked the man, later identified as Valentin, to come out. Valentin reportedly came out of the stall with his wrists together and asked, “Am I in trouble?”

The deputy learned that two boys initially went into the bathroom, which has one stall and several urinals. One of the boys, a 12-year-old, noticed that there was a man in the stall, and he could see through a crack in the door that the man was “touching his private parts.” The boy reportedly asked the man, “Why are you doing that?” but the man did not reply and continued touching himself.

The second boy also reportedly told the deputy that he could see the man “pleasuring himself” and could see the man’s “private parts.”

Several other students entered the bathroom but left when they saw the man in the stall. Three students reportedly told the deputy that they could see the man’s genitals and that the man was touching himself.

Valentin reportedly gave several false names to the deputy before he was identified via his social security number. Post Miranda, he reportedly declined to speak to the deputy.

The deputy charged the man with lewd/lascivious exhibition in the presence of a victim under 16 years old because after the first boy made the man aware that he was visible to juveniles, the man continued to masturbate. Valentin was also charged with giving false identification information to an officer.

A search at the jail reportedly produced a bag containing a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine. Valentin reportedly told a detention officer that he’d forgotten he had the drugs. He was charged with introduction of contraband to a detention facility and possession of methamphetamine.

While officers were completing the arrest paperwork, three officers reportedly saw Valentin masturbating in his cell while visible to others.

Valentin, who is described as homeless in court documents, has two felony convictions (two violent) and four misdemeanor convictions (one violent). Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $75,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.