New Florida university administrator has been arrested and fired for “genital exposure”

Fred Piccolo, Florida’s New College Marketing and Media Director, faces charges of “genital exposure” after being arrested by Manatee County Sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday.

New university spokesman Alexandra Nicole Islas confirmed that Piccolo was fired Wednesday after the school took him off the website.

This is not the first time that 47-year-old Piccolo has been accused of sexually inappropriate behavior.

In August, Piccolo was accused of exposing herself to employees of a Banana Republic store in a mall in the heart of Sarasota university town.

Piccolo watched “stroking one hand” while watching the female employee, according to an arrest report.

Eleven days later, Piccolo exposed herself to a Dillard employee at the same shopping centre. The next day, Piccolo returned to the store and was once again exposed to a female employee, according to arrest records.

Criminal cases are underway for three cases.

In 2022, Piccolo was accused of sending “unwanted, unsolicited, inappropriate, and grossly offensive” text messages to Florida Rep. Jackie Toledo while working as a campaign manager. Piccolo denied the charges at the time, and the lawsuit filed in the case was eventually deleted.

Piccolo stayed in jail Wednesday morning, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office website. He could not be reached for comment.

Piccolo previously worked as a spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis, but resigned in 2020 after a controversial tweet about Covid-19 victims.

Piccolo has been serving at least as Corcoran’s then-Speaker of the State and later at the State Department of Education for over a decade at the new university, Richard Corcoran.

Indecent exposure is the third felony under state law.

Ian Hodgson is an education reporter for the Tampa Bay Times and works in collaboration with the open campus.