St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office
WILL GREENLEE / TCPALM
USA TODAY Network, Reuters
Four people were arrested Oct. 9 in an undercover operation at Blind Creek Beach, including a man arrested a week earlier in a similar operation at D.J. Wilcox Preserve, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said.
The agency’s Special Investigations Unit targeted illegal activity along the trails and in the parking lot, the Sheriff’s Office said in an Oct. 10 social media post.
“We’re running out of ways to explain how not to get arrested in a public park,” Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Capt. Andrew Bolonka said in a Facebook video.
Those arrested and the charges they face, according to the Sheriff’s Office:
Jorge Luis Perez Garces, exposure of sexual organsSaion Peebles, indecent exposureTimothy Noye, batteryPaul Joseph Focazio, indecent exposure
Focazio, 65, was one of two men arrested Oct. 2 at D.J. Wilcox Preserve in Fort Pierce on charges of exposure of sexual organs. Both were taken to the St. Lucie County Jail.
Blind Creek Beach has a designated clothing-optional area. The operation targeted alleged illegal conduct outside that area, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“We’ve made avoiding this kind of arrest remarkably simple: Don’t engage in illegal sexual activity or unwanted sexual contact in public,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote Oct. 10.
The agency did not describe what each person is accused of doing.
The Oct. 2 operation came four days after the Sheriff’s Office publicly warned about illegal sexual activity at the preserve. Afterward, the agency warned that detectives would return but did not say when or where.
The preserve, off Old Dixie Highway, has been the site of repeated undercover operations. In November 2025, three men in their 80s were arrested there over two days on charges of exposure of sexual organs.
Undercover operations will continue at undisclosed times and locations, the agency said.
Jack Lemnus is a TCPalm enterprise reporter. Contact him at jack.lemnus@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1345, or follow him on X @JackLemnus.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: 4 arrested in ‘illegal sexual activity’ sting at Florida beach
Reporting by Jack Lemnus, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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This story was originally published October 10, 2026 at 1:09 PM.