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Background: The Miami Beach Boardwalk in Florida (Google Maps). Inset: Rasheed Jones (Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation).
A convicted sex offender walking the boardwalk in South Beach, Florida, was caught on camera “skipping and dancing” after his latest alleged sex crime.
Rasheed Jones, 49, was arrested by Miami Beach police on Dec. 31 after he was accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl on the Miami Beach Boardwalk near Fifth Street the day before. According to the arrest report obtained by WPLG, a local ABC affiliate, the girl was walking with her mother when Jones allegedly “reached out his hand and brushed her buttocks in an intentional and lewd manner.” When the girl turned around and saw Jones, he apparently “held his finger to his mouth indicating to her to stay quiet.”
According to the report, the girl’s mother stopped to confront Jones, who ran away. But several people who heard the woman and Jones engaging with each other located police officers nearby to alert them to what was happening. Jones got away from the scene, but the mother reported his actions to officers that day.
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But in addition to the girl, her mother, and several eyewitnesses, there were also surveillance cameras that not only caught the alleged act, it also caught Jones allegedly “skipping and dancing, apparently celebrating his actions.” Police issued a be-on-the-lookout notice, and Jones was detained later that evening. He was formally arrested after the victim identified him.
WPLG reported that Jones is a convicted sex offender with crimes going back to 1995.
Jones remains in custody at the Metro West Detention Center on $25,000 bond. He was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a child between the ages of 12 and 16, a felony.