Lakeland Man Faces Charges After Police Said He Exposed Himself To A McDonald's Cashier

LAKELAND, FL — A Lakeland man is accused of exposing himself to a minor at a local McDonald's in September, a Polk County Sheriff's Office news release said.

Charlie Lee Cook., Jr., 34, faces a charge of indecent exposure and a charge of committing a lewd act after police said he exposed himself to McDonald's drive-thru cashier. Cook ordered breakfast one September morning from his car, and circled back in the drive-thru after picking up his first order. He allegedly exposed himself to the minor working at the second drive-thru window who would hand him his food, investigators said. The cashier closed the window and told their manager about it.

The employee gave a description of his black SUV to the Polk County Sheriff's Office. A couple weeks later, Cook returned to the fast-food chain. Employees got his name from a debit card he used to pay for his food. They also wrote down his license plate number. Authorities were then able to identify him as Cook. Officers put a warrant out for his arrest, investigators said.

Deputies put him in jail Tuesday, according to police. He did confess to law enforcement officials that he did expose himself at McDonald's.

“We previously arrested Charlie Cook during an undercover child pornography investigation - he was sending nude images to a 15-year-old girl he met as a youth leader at a church," Sheriff Grady Judd said. "Now here he is again, trying to groom and solicit a child. He clearly wasn't rehabilitated or held accountable back in 2017, but we will do everything in our power to ensure he is held accountable now.”