HIALEAH, FLA. (WSVN) – A 65-year-old man was arrested after a 4-year-old girl told investigators he touched her inappropriately after she briefly wandered away from her mother inside a Hialeah Lowe’s, police said.

Jose Cremades was arrested Monday in connection with the Sept. 12 incident at the Lowe’s along West 37th Street.

According to the arrest report, the child and her mother had attended a Lowe’s Kids Workshop earlier that day.

After the workshop, the mother went to a register to make a purchase when the girl briefly walked toward a nearby clothing display and disappeared from her mother’s view.

The mother told police she called out for her daughter and, seconds later, saw the girl run out from behind the display toward her.

At the same time, she saw an older man emerge from behind the same display, look in her direction, lower his head and walk away.

The mother told investigators she initially did not believe anything had happened and left the store with her daughter. The two were then picked up by the girl’s father.

According to the report, while the mother was placing the girl into her car seat and securing her seat belt, the child spontaneously told her that the “old man” who had been next to her inside the store had touched her “cukis,” a word the child later told investigators she uses to refer to her private area.

During a forensic interview at Kristi House three days later, the girl told investigators Cremades reached under her dress and touched her private area with his fingers on two separate occasions, according to the report.

Police said surveillance video showed Cremades and the child obscured behind the merchandise display for about a minute.

Investigators also said footage showed Cremades walking behind two other juvenile girls elsewhere in the store and later crouching near merchandise while looking toward them.

He was taken into custody Monday and invoked his right to remain silent, requesting an attorney, according to police.

Cremades faces a charge of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 12. A judge found probable cause and ordered him held without bond.

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