A former spokesman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been arrested and charged with alleged indecent exposure. Fred Piccolo, 47, was arrested Tuesday and charged with “exposure of sexual organs,” a third-degree felony under Florida law. Piccolo had worked in 2020 as DeSantis’ communications director but resigned in December of that year after he suggested in a tweet that the media had created a false narrative about the deadliness of COVID-19. Up until this week, he was working as the marketing director for the “anti-woke” New College of Florida in Sarasota. A spokeswoman for the school said he had been fired Wednesday. Even before his arrest on Tuesday, Piccolo was facing criminal proceedings in three other indecent exposure cases. He was accused of exposing himself three times over a 12-day period last summer to employees at a Banana Republic and a Dillard’s clothing store in Sarasota’s Mall at University Town Center. Eric Reisinger, an attorney for Piccolo, told Axios his client was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s disease a decade ago and claimed his medication is “causing Mr. Piccolo to behave in a manner inconsistent with his established character.”
Read more at The Daily Beast.
