Nine arrested in sex sting at Sears men's room
Operation set in the men's room at Sears
By Ludmilla Lelis | The Orlando Sentinel
November 3, 2007
DAYTONA BEACH - A high school teacher, one of nine men including a former Daytona Beach commissioner caught in a bathroom sex sting operation, resigned Friday, officials said.
David Behringer, 28, who worked at Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach, resigned "for personal reasons," said a spokeswoman for the Volusia County school district.
Behringer, former City Commissioner Mike Shallow, and seven other men were arrested Thursday during a daylong operation targeting the reported sexually explicit behavior at the men's bathroom at the Sears department store in the Volusia Mall.
The men have since been released from the Volusia County Branch Jail on $1,000 bail.
Police Chief Mike Chitwood said store security told police last week about the problem, and that the police organized the sting, along with the Volusia County Beach Patrol.
"There's a whole subculture trolling at these bathrooms, and it's entirely nonverbal communication," Chitwood said. "If you understand the culture, you know what the signals are."
About six to eight officers spent most of Thursday visiting the bathroom stalls, looking for such signals — which include toe tapping, excessive zipper noises, certain hand gestures and eye contact, according to the reports.
The chief said he wanted to combat the sexual misconduct in the public bathrooms, especially as holiday season approaches and the mall will be packed with families shopping.
"It's wrong any time of the year, but now it's the holidays and everyone will be at the mall," Chitwood said.
The Orlando Sentinel is a Tribune Co. newspaper.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/local/sfl-flfsexsting1103nbnov03,0,6616586.story
Can I ask....What the F is going on out here?
