Fort Pierce - Thursday October 27, 2022: Fort Pierce Police have arrested 56-year-old Noe Cardenas and charged him with two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation.
The charges stem from an incident this past Tuesday, October 25, that occurred around 7 PM inside the Goodwill store at the Sabal Palm Plaza on South U.S. Highway 1 in Fort Pierce.
Fort Pierce PD responded to a "lewd and lascivious complaint" complaint from a person who said that a man, later identified as Cardenas, had inappropriately touched an adolescent several times while walking around the store. Police say family members confronted Cardenas who immediately left the area.
On Wednesday, October 26, police issued an alert and released a picture of Cardenas taken by Plaza security cameras. Soon thereafter a tip came in from Crime Stoppers after and officers were able to positively identify and locate him.
"After being brought in for questioning, he confessed to committing the lewd and lascivious acts," states a release from Officer Curtis Jennings, FPPD Public Affairs Manager. Cardenas also confessed to committing the same acts to a different child at a different store back in August of 2022, states the release.
FPPD asks anyone who may have been a victim of Cardenas, or anyone with any additional information about this case to contact Detective Kevin Mohamed at 772-467-6905 or mail him at kmohamed@fppd.org.
If you wish to remain anonymous you can call Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-(800)-273-8477.