HOLIDAY, Fla. — Pasco County deputies are searching for a man they say approached a middle school student as she was walking to her bus stop, and began touching himself inappropriately.
"It's just sick. I don't understand how people can be like that," said Judy Gramz, neighbor.
According to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, an unidentified African-American male subject approached a Paul R. Smith Middle School student on Wednesday morning as she was walking to her bus stop near the intersection of Moog Road and Winder Drive in Holiday.
Deputies say that the subject stopped his vehicle and asked the victim for directions. As the victim approached the suspects' vehicle, deputies say that she noticed his pants were pulled down to his ankles and his hand was beneath a blue towel moving up and down.
The girl allegedly got scared, ran away, and reported the incident when she arrived at school.
"Kids have enough worries these days that they don't need to be dealing with something like that, you know. Going to school in the morning should be an innocent thing," said Gramz.
"If we see him we could take care of him, but somebody should get a license plate, definitely, we don't need that stuff around here," said neighbor Gene McCarren.
The suspect is described as an African-American male in his 30s who is 5'8'' to 5'9'' tall. Deputies say he has dreadlocks that were pulled up into a bun. He was wearing a black T-shirt and had a blue towel laying over his lap. He was driving a black Hyundai Sonata with no specific identifiers. The victim did not get a tag number.
Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-706-2488 if you have any information.
