SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. —
An Orange County man is behind bars after Seminole County sheriff’s deputies say he groped a woman and exposed himself at a Hindu temple near Casselberry.
WESH 2 News has learned the suspect, 47-year-old Robert Winter, is a convicted sexual predator who was on probation at the time of the alleged incident.
Winter was arrested over what deputies say happened Sunday afternoon at the Hindu Society of Central Florida on East Lake Drive near Casselberry.
“There’s a guy that’s groping women here, and he’s doing racist remarks,” a caller told a 911 dispatcher. “Uh-oh. Now, he’s stripping.”
According to the arrest report, Winter is accused of coming up from behind and groping a female worker at the temple. Witnesses told deputies Winter then “stripped down his pants, exposing himself, while continuing to make racial slurs.”
Witnesses said they followed Winter into the parking lot, where deputies confronted him. According to the arrest report, Winter immediately reversed his vehicle before driving forward until another deputy blocked his path.
“Uh-oh. He’s running now. He jumped into the pond,” a witness told a 911 dispatcher.
Deputies say Winter dove headfirst into the pond. He eventually complied with their commands and was taken into custody, but not before deputies say he yelled profanities and spat at temple staff while they were trespassing him from the property.
Winter was charged with battery, resisting an officer without violence, fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement and indecent exposure.
Winter was present at his first appearance Monday afternoon but did not appear on camera before the judge.
“Your Honor, he’s present. I can’t show him at all because he [doesn’t] have any clothes on,” an official said during the hearing.
Winter is listed on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s website as a sexual predator. He was found guilty in 2014 in Alachua County of three counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child and one count of lewd or lascivious battery of a child. He spent more than nine years in prison and was on probation when Sunday’s alleged incident occurred.
It’s unclear whether Winter was a member of the temple or what he was doing there. WESH 2 reached out to temple leaders several times for comment but did not receive a response.
