AVENTURA, Fla. – A 23-year-old Aventura man surrendered to police Thursday after authorities accused him of molesting a girl at his condominium pool in July.
Jonathan David Taitz faces a lewd and lascivious molestation charge over the July 20 incident at the Turnberry Isle North Tower condominium, located at 19707 Turnberry Way, police said.
Aventura police allege that at around 5:30 that evening, Taitz took the 8-year-old girl towards the bridge area of the building’s pool, which concealed them from others and touched the girl’s genitals over her swimsuit despite pleas for him to stop.
Authorities didn’t specify whether Taitz knew the girl.
An arrest report states that Taitz’s mother and attorney accompanied him as he turned himself in Thursday morning. He did not give a statement to police.
Taitz and his attorney appeared in bond court Friday.
In arguing for release from jail, Taitz’s attorney, Joseph Bosco, said his client has an “exceedingly rare” congenital brain disorder called agenesis of the corpus callosum, described by the National Institutes of Health as “a brain disorder in which the tissue that connects the left and right sides of the brain (its hemispheres) is partially or completely missing.”
“The movie ‘Rain Man’ was based on an actual person that had the same condition,” Bosco said. “This is a very rare disorder we’re dealing with and I’m not sure he (Taitz) even knows where he is right now.”
Bosco said Taitz has been previously found mentally incapacitated in 2017 in juvenile court. He asked that Taitz be allowed to live with his aunt at an adults-only facility in Hollywood.
“He’s literally missing a part of his brain,” Bosco said, saying the disorder affects Taitz’s cognitive and physical functioning. “The jail is not an appropriate setting for someone who is as profoundly impacted as Mr. Taitz.”
Judge Mindy Glazer noted the offense was non-bondable, however. She ordered he be held in a special unit inside the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center until a second hearing to determine Taitz’s custody status, scheduled for Monday.