What began as a quiet evening in her apartment near sorority row on the east edge of the University of Florida campus turned unsettling for Sofia Varon after she stepped outside and came face to face with a man exposing himself.
Varon, 21, a public relations senior, said she was leaving with a friend when she turned a corner along a dirt path. The man had been standing naked outside the window touching himself, she said.
“No shoes, no shirt, no pants,” Varon said. “He was holding his you-know-what, looking through my window.”
Her experience isn’t an isolated incident. Criminal cases involving indecent exposure in Alachua County more than doubled from 25 to 53 during the period between 2024 and 2025, according to data from the Office of the State Courts Administrator.
The number of cases have climbed statewide every year since 2020, and jumped from 1,592 to 1,755 during the same one-year period. The data includes cases in which law enforcement officers make an arrest and a defendant faces a charge in court.
In late February, the Gainesville Police Department said it was investigating at least 10 reports since January of inappropriate sexual behavior, including men exposing themselves, masturbating in public, looking in windows and groping women along the city’s Rails to Trails system.
Police increased patrols along the trails, using uniformed and plainclothes officers.
The incident outside Varon’s apartment — which she described in a recent TikTok — came weeks later. She said she screamed, ran back toward her apartment and called 911. Police confirmed they searched the area but were unable to find the man.
Police say they have noticed an increase in these types of calls since August, GPD spokesman Art Forgey said. He said many are repeat offenders, and most have been arrested for this in the past.
Under Florida law, indecent exposure is typically a misdemeanor, which can carry penalties such as fines, probation or jail time. A second or subsequent offense can be elevated to a felony, which could include a prison sentence.
Many victims freeze in the moment, which may lead to underreporting, Forgey said. He urged victims to call 911 and provide a description so officers can respond and identify a suspect.
“ If you see that, would you want a child to see it?” he asked.
In March 2025, Michael Verrone, 57, of Gainesville stripped off his clothes near a roadside retention pond, rolled on the ground and danced naked, according to police records. The woman who called police said she believed he was experiencing a mental health crisis. She said her young daughter was the first to notice his strange behavior.
“I kind of looked around, hoping there were no kids,” said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she is expected to testify at Verrone’s upcoming trial next month. “He was facing away from the main road, so you really couldn't see too much.”
When police arrived, he was wearing only boxer shorts. The woman said the incident did not have a lasting emotional impact on her or her daughter and that they were able to handle the situation calmly.
Verrone did not return phone messages asking to discuss the incident.
In October, police said Christopher Jermaine Bolton, 42, of Gainesville exposed himself in front of children and adults at a bus stop just four miles from the Verrone incident. A woman stopped to check on him after seeing Bolton vomiting, according to court records. Bolton exposed himself and made a sexually explicit comment in front of two children, an infant and two adults, according to records.
The State Attorney’s Office dropped the case because the person identified as the victim failed to appear to testify, spokesman Darry Lloyd said. Prosecutors reviewed police body-camera footage, but the accuser did not mention the exposure while speaking with police.
Bolton, who has been a registered sexual predator since 2008, was convicted in January and sentenced to three months in jail for failing to update his email address with state authorities. He was still in the Alachua County Jail this week.
Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, the Legislature passed a bill this week specifically outlawing indecent exposure toward children under 16, including in cases where it wasn’t clear whether the child saw anything. Gov. Ron DeSantis was expected to sign it into law in coming weeks.
The House passed the bill by a vote of 108-0 earlier this month. The Senate passed it Tuesday 38-0.
Violators face up to five years in prison, five years of probation and a $5,000 fine. The bill’s Senate sponsor, Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, said law enforcement officials in Orange County asked for the new law.
“This was brought in by the Sheriff’s Office of Orange County,” Martin said during a legislative hearing. Another senator, Kristen Arrington, D-Kissimmee, said the state prosecutor in Orlando cited a case in which they were unable to file criminal charges.
Prosecutors had to previously prove that a victim saw or sensed the lewd or lascivious act, but the new bill covers cases even if a young victim was not aware of any specific conduct on the part of the offender or did not see the offender's sexual organs.
The new bill does not cover cases of a mother breastfeeding her baby or an individual who is nude in a location designated for that purpose.