A 5-year-old girl shopping with her mother at the Marshalls on Sunrise Highway in Freeport spotted a man exposing his genitals inside the store, then told her mother what she'd seen. That report set off an investigation that ended with the arrest of 32-year-old Freeport resident Rory Anderson, who now faces charges of public lewdness and endangering the welfare of a child.
According to News 12 New York, the girl's mother contacted the Freeport Police Department after her daughter alerted her to the man's behavior inside the store. Detectives told News 12 that the incident occurred on July 29, and News 12 Long Island reports it happened inside the Marshalls at 256 East Sunrise Highway, a stretch of the corridor known as a busy regional shopping strip.
Investigators determined Anderson was responsible for the incident, and he was arrested without incident, the outlet's report states. The investigation involved the Nassau County Police Department's Special Victims Squad, a unit that handles cases involving child victims, sexual offenses, and domestic violence across the county's precincts and municipal jurisdictions.
Charges and What Comes Next in Court
Anderson is expected to be arraigned Friday at the Nassau County First District Court in Hempstead, which serves as the primary tribunal for misdemeanor arraignments and criminal trials across the county and processes police cases seven days a week. He faces charges of public lewdness under New York Penal Law § 245.00, a Class B misdemeanor carrying up to 90 days in jail, a year of probation, and court fines, along with endangering the welfare of a child under Penal Law § 260.10, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, up to three years of probation, and possible orders of protection.
Neither charge is generally considered a qualifying offense for monetary bail under New York's 2020 bail reform law, meaning judges typically release defendants on recognizance or non-monetary conditions at arraignment for cases like this one, per CBS News. Separately, New York law includes a more severe statute, Penal Law § 245.03, which defines Public Lewdness in the First Degree as a Class A misdemeanor when an adult 19 or older intentionally exposes themselves to a child under 16 to alarm or annoy them — a distinction that underscores why cases involving young witnesses can carry heavier potential penalties.
A Similar Case's Complicated History
A defendant with the same name, Rory Anderson, was previously convicted of public lewdness in a separate Nassau County case involving a CVS pharmacy, but that conviction was overturned in June 2024 when a New York appellate court ordered a new trial after finding the trial judge improperly altered jury instructions about public versus private premises following closing arguments, according to FindLaw. That earlier case is a matter of public record and is not evidence in the current Freeport charges.
How Nassau Police Say Tipsters Can Help
Anyone with information about this case or similar incidents can call Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS, a 24-hour hotline that guarantees caller anonymity and offers cash rewards for tips leading to arrests. Victims of similar incidents are urged to contact 911.
The case follows a similar Nassau County investigation Hoodline covered in July, when police sought a suspect in a series of Mineola garage lewd show incidents. That case involved public lewdness reports inside a Mineola parking garage, illustrating that this type of complaint has surfaced more than once across the county's commercial and municipal spaces in recent months.
