A former spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis, who until this week served as an administrator for his infamous "anti-woke" college, was arrested and relieved of his position for indecent exposure, the Tampa Bay Times reported on Tuesday.
Fred Piccolo, 47, is in jail as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, on charges of "exposure of sexual organs," which constitutes a third-degree felony under Florida law. After his communications role for the governor and some other state communications positions, he was hired as the Director of Marketing and Media for the New College of Florida in Sarasota; a spokeswoman for the college "confirmed that Piccolo was fired Wednesday after the school removed him from its website," according to the article.
Piccolo has a long list of other allegations of public lewdness, according to the report.
"In August, Piccolo was accused of exposing himself to a store employee at a Banana Republic inside Sarasota’s University Town Center Mall," the report continued, with Sarasota County deputies noting in the arrest report that he was "using one hand in a stroking manner" as he looked at the woman. "Eleven days later, Piccolo exposed himself to an employee of Dillard’s in the same shopping center. The next day, Piccolo returned to the store and again exposed himself to a female employee, according to arrest records."
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Per the report, he faces ongoing criminal charges from all three incidents.
The New College of Florida, based in Sarasota south of the Tampa area, has become infamous as a testing ground for DeSantis' allies to enact "anti-woke" reforms to academia, including the abolition of the tenure system and a mass purge of faculty that left students unable to take courses required for their majors.
In recent months, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature itself has grown exasperated by DeSantis' interference with the state's public higher education system, in particular appointing allies or rivals to academic leadership positions they aren't qualified for with no input from the schools' boards. A new bill is advancing that would take away DeSantis appointees' power to interfere with these hiring decisions, sparking outrage from the governor's office.
