BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A 20-year-old man was arrested after showing photos of naked people to elementary-aged girls in Cape Canaveral last week, according to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
Dylen Shortt was arrested on Oct. 31.
According to an affidavit for an arrest warrant, on Oct. 18, the girls reported to a deputy at the Cape Canaveral event that a man in a vehicle stopped at a stop sign near them and showed them a photo of naked people on his phone. According to the sheriff’s office, the girls were 11 and 12 years old.
“The vehicle is reportedly seen frequently in the area of the Canaveral City Park and Caroline Street,” the affidavit reads.
The girls told deputies that was their second time seeing the man and the vehicle, according to the affidavit, and they had previously seen the man a week prior in the area of Rosalind Avenue and Washington Street.
The girls had been riding a scooter when the man told them to look at a photo of a naked man, the affidavit said. The girls drove around and realized the car was following them, so they went up to a random house to knock on the door and try to scare the man away, deputies said.
Surveillance video from the City of Cape Canaveral Community Center helped deputies search for the vehicle and identify Shortt as the owner.
According to the sheriff’s office, Shortt was out on bond after being arrested for touching himself at a Target in the women’s and girl’s clothing sections in Titusville.
He faces charges of distributing obscene material to a minor.
News 6 reporter James Sparvero went to Shortt’s home Wednesday.
While no one answered the door, Shortt’s car could be seen on the street with apparently a new paint job.
Sheriff Wayne Ivey was critical of Shortt’s bond amounts in each of his cases.
He posted a $1,000 bond in the Titusville case and a $15,000 bond in the Cape Canaveral case.
“I look at these things and I go this is the criminal justice system as a whole that is failing our citizens,” Ivey told Sparvero. “It’s failing in the aspect of we’re putting bad people back out on our streets. This guy needs to be locked up behind bars where he can’t hurt one of our children.”
Shortt has pleaded not guilty in the Titusville case.
Court records do not show if he’s entered a plea in the Cape Canaveral case, yet.
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