MIAMI — A 72-year-old homeless man was arrested Tuesday evening after allegedly making lewd comments to a 15-year-old girl and then showing her pornographic material, according to an arrest report from the Miami Police Department.
Police said Octavio Rodriguez was taken into custody just after 5:30 p.m. near the intersection of Southwest 29th Avenue and Southwest Eighth Street following a report from the victim and her family.
The victim told investigators that Rodriguez approached her while she was walking home from school and made sexually explicit comments in Spanish, according to the report.
The report stated that Rodriguez then handed her torn pornographic magazine material depicting a sexual act. The victim immediately ran home and alerted her parents.
Police responded to the scene Tuesday after the girl’s family reported seeing Rodriguez in their neighborhood again.
The victim and her father identified Rodriguez to officers, who detained him and transported him to a nearby police station.
The victim provided a statement to investigators and identified Rodriguez from a photograph taken by her father, according to the report. The victim’s mother also gave a statement corroborating the incident.
During questioning, police said Rodriguez waived his Miranda rights and agreed to speak with investigators without a lawyer.
When confronted with the allegations, they said he claimed the victim grabbed the pornographic material from his hands without him saying anything to her.
Rodriguez also acknowledged spending time near the victim’s home and seeing her walk home from school in her uniform, indicating he knew she was a minor, the report stated.
The victim and her family were familiar with Rodriguez, who is frequently seen in their neighborhood, police said.
Jail records show Rodriguez is facing charges of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child under 16 and distributing obscene material to a minor.
As of Wednesday, he was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where his bond was listed as “to be set.”
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