AVENTURA, Fla. – According to police, an Aventura man engaged in a serial “pattern” of lewd behavior with boys and girls living at his condominium building, leading to his arrest on five felony charges Thursday.
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Police outlined at least two instances in which they said Steven Gettis, 66, exposed himself to boys under the guise of showing them a scar on his groin. They also said he tried to lure children to his apartment and inappropriately touched at least three young girls.
“This is real disturbing conduct that spans over the course of months with multiple victims,” Miami-Dade prosecutor Nessa Eth said during a bond court hearing Friday.
According to comments in open court, the incidents happened at the Turnberry Village North Tower at 20000 E. Country Club Drive.
The report documents five instances in 2024 and 2025 where authorities said Gettis was inappropriate with children.
In two instances, he engaged two boys, aged 14 and 15, he began with unsolicited conversations near the building’s pool, the report states.
In the first instance, in August, police said Gettis “began talking about a scar on his groin area” and asked the teens if they wanted to see it. They said the boys declined, but he showed them anyway.
Then, in February, police said he came up to the same two boys and started talking to them about “boobs and vaginas” and his difficulties getting an erection.
The report states Gettis then “pointed to his groin area and stated, ‘That little guy can be a predator if you want it to be,’” an alleged comment that would later prove pivotal during bond court proceedings.
Police said the boys ignored him and when Gettis noticed that, he became “flustered” and said, “I will drag you out of the pool.”
The report states that that prompted a security guard to tell him to “leave the boys alone.”
In another instance, police said he approached two 11-year-old boys playing pickleball in the building’s gymnasium, asked them for their phone numbers and recorded video of them without their consent, claiming he was going to “send the video to his kids.”
Police said he then asked them personal questions, like which school they attended, and started playing pickleball with them. They said when a ball hit Gettis’ leg, he “pointed to his genital area” and said “Thank God it didn’t hit me in the balls.”
They said he then “then lifted his pants from the bottom up to expose his scar,” all “while cupping his penis/scrotum/genital area with his hand over the clothes.”
The report states he then told the boys “he was ordering pizza and invited them over to his house to have fun” and “they did not have to tell their parents and said this could be their secret.”
“The victims said they felt pressured and scared so they ran home and disclosed the incident to their parents,” police wrote.
The report also outlines instances where Gettis is accused of touching young girls who were playing in the building’s gym.
Police said in one instance, he came up to a 12-year-old girl playing with her friends, told her he used to own a dance studio and inappropriately touched her under the guise of “assist(ing) the victims with performing cartwheels.”
A parent witnessed that incident, police said.
In another instance, police said he inappropriately touched a 9-year-old under the pretense of “assist(ing) her with completing a backflip.”
Police said later, he called her 6-year-old friend over to him and put both of his hands on her waist. According to the report, a surveillance camera “corroborated the information provided to investigators.”
Gettis “had a pattern of behavior where he demonstrated a proclivity toward children when the victims (were) in a child safety area but away from their (parents’) custody,” an investigator concluded.
Gettis was arrested on two counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition on a child, three counts of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child and two misdemeanor counts of luring and enticing a child.
In court Friday, a public defender argued there was no basis for the counts of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child or child solicitation.
“I don’t believe that’s ‘conduct,’” the public defender said, referencing state statute.
Eth retorted, “He pointed to his thing,” mentioning the alleged “predator” comment, saying the “if you want it to be” portion showed probable cause for solicitation to engage in lewd conduct.
The public defender said it sounded like a “sarcastic comment.”
“Not to a 14- or 15-year-old,” Judge Ariel Rodriguez said, finding probable cause. He also found probable cause on the third count.
Rodriguez ordered Gettis to be on Level 3 house arrest, ordered him to have no unsupervised contact with children and to stay away from the condominium building, aside from a police-escorted visit to retrieve his belongings.
He also ordered Gettis be held on a bond of more than $50,000.