Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Dominique Demetri Merricks, 29, was arrested yesterday for multiple incidents of indecent exposure in local stores.

At about 9:50 a.m. on September 1, the Loss Prevention Officer (LPO) at the Butler Plaza Walmart (2900 SW 2nd Street) was notified that a black male had been following a female customer around the store; the LPO found the man and briefly followed him, noting that the man exposed his genitals and started masturbating. The LPO told the man to leave the store, and he left, but he did not ask the man for identification. A Gainesville Police Department (GPD) detective later identified the man in the surveillance video as Merricks.

At about 3:14 p.m. on September 1, an unidentified victim told an employee at 2nd & Charles (2601 NW 13th Street) that a man was masturbating inside the store; the employee asked the man if he needed help, and the man left the store.

At about 11:08 a.m. on September 2, an employee at 2nd & Charles called law enforcement to ask for the same man to be trespassed. The responding GPD officer issued a trespass warning to Merricks and reviewed surveillance video, which reportedly showed Merricks masturbating inside the store while looking toward the unidentified victim.

After viewing the surveillance video, the officer arrested Merricks and noted that he smelled like marijuana. A search incident to arrest reportedly produced 14.9 grams of marijuana.

Post Miranda, Merricks reportedly nodded his head when asked about multiple reports of masturbation in stores and identified himself in videos from Walmart and 2nd & Charles.

Merricks is also facing a sworn complaint from an incident in which he allegedly exposed his genitals and masturbated on July 23 at Target, but he has not been booked on that charge.

Merricks has been charged with two counts of indecent exposure of sexual organs and possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana. He has two felony convictions (one violent) and three misdemeanor convictions (non-violent) and has served two state prison sentences, with his most recent release in 2019. He was arrested on July 27 for aggravated battery on a pregnant victim, but the charge was dropped on August 27, and he was released from the jail on August 28. Judge Meshon Rawls set bail at $6,000.

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.