LI Man Charged With Public Lewdness And Forcible Touching: Police

FARMINGVILLE, NY — A man was arrested over the weekend for committing lewd acts in public and touching a woman inappropriately, according to Suffolk County police.

On Saturday, around 3 p.m., police responded to a report of a man masturbating in a black 2003 Honda CR-V while attempting to talk to a 39-year-old woman walking in a parking lot on Veterans Memorial Highway in Hauppauge, police said.

The suspect fled the scene and was later arrested at his home on Granny Road in Farmingville and identified as Franklin Portillo-Hernandez, 26, police said.

Police said he had previously committed two other crimes, including inappropriately touching a woman in Hauppauge on May 12 around 8:15 p.m., and masturbating in a car outside of a residence in plain view on Helen Marie Place in Hauppauge, which was reported on Aug. 7 around 11:57 a.m.

Portillo-Hernandez was charged with two counts of public lewdness and one count of forcible touching, police said.

He was held overnight at the Fourth Precinct and was arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Sunday, police said.

Anyone with information may call police at 631-854-8452.