Flasher arrested, accused of exposing himself to Coral Gables sunbather

A man accused of exposing himself and masturbating in front of a sunbathing woman in Coral Gables has been arrested.

Antonio Damian Rodriguez, 40, was charged Monday with one count of unarmed burglary of an occupied structure and one count of lewd and lascivious-indecent exposure/sex in public.

On Oct. 3, the tow truck driver from Hialeah approached the fenced-off patio area of an apartment complex near the 200 block of Mendoza Avenue in Coral Gables, according to the arrest affidavit. Surveillance video from an adjacent apartment complex shows Rodriguez cautiously making his way toward the patio, at one point hiding behind shrubbery as someone walks by on the sidewalk.

After watching the woman sunbathe from behind the fence, Rodriguez left and returned 10 minutes later, the victim told police.

“The victim was lying face down in a flat beach chair when she felt someone standing over,” according to the arrest report. “When she looked up the defendant was standing directly on top of her with his penis exposed and was masturbating.”

Rodriguez had wrapped a blue T-shirt around his face to conceal his identity and continued to watch the victim and masturbate as the woman ran upstairs to her apartment, according to the report.

“I work here and I live down the street,” Coral Gables resident Kim Hernandez told Miami Herald news partner CBS4. “This concerns me greatly. One thing could lead to another. First it starts off as indecent exposure and could lead to any inappropriate actions.”

Another neighbor, Michele Breaux, told the station: “It’s all a little unsettling.”

After police released the suspect’s picture, captured from the surveillance footage, and went door to door to pass out fliers, Rodriguez was identified and arrested at his home at 8 p.m. Monday.

Officers said they found the shirt Rodriguez can be seen wearing in the surveillance video at his home as well as the blue T-shirt he had used to hide his face. According to the arrest report, he acknowledged that the man in the video is him.

Police are investigating if Rodriguez is linked to other crimes in Coral Gables. He is being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on $8,500 bond. He also was wanted on charges of grand theft, criminal mischief and resisting an officer without violence, according to Miami-Dade Corrections records.

This story was originally published October 14, 2014 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Flasher arrested, accused of exposing himself to Coral Gables sunbather."