A Spring Hill man was arrested after deputies said he exposed himself to a little girl at a grocery store.
Douglas W. Lavelle, 72, is facing charges of lewd and lascivious exhibition on a child under the age of 16.
According to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, a man was shopping with his two small children in the Winn Dixie on Spring Hill Drive on July 5.
While the family walked through the aisles, the girl noticed a man following her and her family members around the store. The girl told her father, and they walked to the checkout line.
Deputies said the man followed the family to the checkout line, then out to the parking lot.
The girl told her father that while they were in the store, the man had exposed himself to her, so the father obtained a description of the vehicle the man left in, as well as a tag number on the vehicle, deputies said.
That same day, deputies contacted Lavelle at his home. They said Lavelle admitted to being in Winn Dixie at the time of the incident, but denied exposing himself to the little girl.
A member of the Child Protection Team interviewed the little girl, who provided details on the incident, including the fact that the man had exposed himself on three separate occasions in the store, deputies said.
Deputies interviewed Lavelle for a second time, during which he admitted to exposing himself to the child.
Deputies said they confronted him about two prior incidents that occurred at the Publix on Mariner Boulevard. Lavelle had been trespassed from the store in May 2015 for a similar incident in which he touched himself and followed children around the store, deputies said.
Lavelle was taken into custody on Wednesday, and booked into the Hernando County Detention Center. Bond was set at $5,000.