OAKLAND PARK, Fla. – A Broward sex offender is facing several felony charges after sheriff’s deputies said he followed a family from a Dollar Tree into a Publix and engaged in “lewd and lascivious acts” in front of two children.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested David Paul Rohrig, 44, of Fort Lauderdale, on Saturday. He’s been a registered sex offender since 2019 following a federal conviction for the possession of child sexual abuse material, according to state records.
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According to a BSO arrest report, deputies responded to the Publix at 1003 E. Commercial Blvd. in Oakland Park at around noon after receiving reports about Rohrig’s behavior.
Two parents reported that Rohrig was “‘masturbating’ over his shorts near their children,” aged 10 and 4, while they were shopping, the report states.
According to the report, the children’s mother told deputies that she had first seen Rohrig earlier that day in a Dollar Tree located in the same shopping center and realized that he had been “stalking” the family.
Another parent warned the woman to “watch her children around Rohrig” and said “he had been rubbing his penis over his shorts around her child” as well, deputies said.
Deputies said Rohrig, who had only a few coins and a key fob in his pockets — and no underwear on — refused to identify himself.
“Due to the lack of a wallet, credit card or any funds, Rohrig had no intention of purchasing anything,” the report states.
Authorities said due to his failure to identify himself, Rohrig was trying to conceal that he was a sex offender.
The report states that sex offender laws require him to carry identification; deputies were eventually able to figure out who he was and arrest him on two counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition on a minor, two counts related to compliance with sex offender registration, plus individual counts of aggravated stalking of a minor and resisting arrest.
Jail records show he was held in BSO’s Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach on a bond of more than $300,000 as of Tuesday morning.