OVIEDO, Fla. – Police arrested the security supervisor at the Oviedo Mall on Tuesday on accusations of touching preteen girls inappropriately.
Sixty-one-year-old Ronald Queen, Valor Security supervisor at Oviedo Mall and a former employee at the Florida Highway Patrol and State Fire Marshal's office, was charged with lewd and lascivious behavior and battery.
Police said a group of young teen and preteen girls reported that Queen talked with them about bras and bra sizes at Victoria's Secret.
According to police, Queen then followed the girls into the food court and poked a girl with his finger in her side just above her buttocks.
Queen then grabbed another girl's buttocks, police said. The girl alerted parents nearby.
Queen was arrested as he arrived for work Tuesday at the Oviedo Mall. During an interview, he told police he talked to the girls when they were in Victoria's Secret and poked one of them in her side.
Police said Queen denied grabbing anyone's buttocks.
He was booked into Seminole County jail but was later released on bond.
No one answered the door at Queen's home on Wednesday. A neighbor told Local 6 that Queen was always respectful to her.
"If these allegations turn out to be true, I'm shocked," said Icilyn Johnson. "He doesn't strike me as that kind of person."
Queen retired from the state fire marshal's office a year and a half ago. He worked there from 2005 to 2013 after being an employee at FHP, according to the Florida Department of Financial Services.
Valor Security released a statement on Wednesday, saying "We are shocked to learn of these allegations and are assisting law enforcement officials in their investigation. The officer in question has been suspended without pay, pending the results of that investigation."
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