A 41-year-old Longwood man is facing a second-or-subsequent indecent exposure charge after a Seminole County deputy responded to a report of a man acting lewdly in the parking lot of the Target near Oviedo Mall last Sunday evening. Nicholas Jay Lydic told the deputy he was simply changing clothes outside his car because he had gotten wet, but a caller described something far more alarming to authorities.
According to WKMG, the deputy was dispatched to 820 Oviedo Mall Blvd. around 8 p.m. after a caller claimed a man wearing a teal G-string and white tennis shoes was touching himself outside his vehicle. The deputy found Lydic near the Target parking lot and took him into custody following a show-up identification, the outlet reports. Lydic reportedly denied knowing what the deputy meant when asked about masturbation or the G-string, and said he had purchased all the underwear himself.
What Deputies Found in the Vehicle
During the encounter, the deputy searched Lydic's vehicle and found multiple butt plugs along with a backpack full of women's underwear, per the same report. The Seminole County Sheriff's Office described Lydic as having reportedly acted lewdly near Oviedo Mall, leading to his arrest on a charge of indecent exposure of sexual organs.
Florida law gives officers unusual latitude in cases like this. Under Section 901.15 of the Florida Statutes, exposure of sexual organs is an explicit exception to the state's misdemeanor warrantless arrest rule, according to Online Sunshine, meaning deputies can make an arrest based on probable cause and a citizen report even without witnessing the act themselves.
A Repeat Pattern Across Two Counties
Official booking records from the Seminole County Sheriff's Office show Lydic was formally booked on September 6, 2026, with the charge specifically designated as a second or subsequent offense. That classification traces back through a documented history of similar arrests in the region. Seminole County booking logs indicate Lydic was previously arrested locally on March 7, 2025, on charges tied to a first-offense sex offense and voyeurism, according to Seminole Busted. Volusia County arrest logs separately show Lydic was taken into custody on July 3, 2023, on a public indecent exposure charge, per Daytona Mugshots.
The same Seminole County booking records show the sheriff's office logged approximately 213 total jail bookings during the seven-day period ending September 7, and Lydic's arrest was the only one recorded for indecent exposure that week — a reminder that these charges remain a rare fraction of intake in a county serving more than 470,000 residents.
What Florida Law Requires — and What It Doesn't
Under Section 800.03 of the Florida Statutes, exposure of sexual organs in a vulgar or indecent manner is a first-degree misdemeanor carrying up to a year in county jail, a year of probation, and a $1,000 fine, according to Online Sunshine. But Florida court precedent complicates any straightforward reading of the charge. The 1984 appellate decision Goodmakers v. State established that public nudity or partial nudity alone isn't enough for a conviction under that statute — prosecutors must also prove a vulgar, lascivious, or indecent state of mind, according to the Sammis Law Firm. Defense attorneys often lean on that standard when clients claim they were merely changing clothes in public.
Related Florida statutes carry steeper stakes for repeat conduct. Voyeurism is a first-degree misdemeanor for a first offense under Florida Statute 810.14, but two or more prior convictions escalate the charge to a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in state prison, per Online Sunshine. Separately, if public exposure occurs in the presence of a child under 16, Section 800.04 elevates the offense from a misdemeanor to a second-degree felony carrying up to 15 years in prison, according to the Criminal Attorney Clearwater. Nothing in the current case indicates a minor was involved.
The Backdrop Near Oviedo Mall
The Target store at 820 Oviedo Mall Blvd. functions as a shadow anchor to the broader Oviedo Mall retail corridor, an area now in the middle of a mixed-use overhaul. Real estate developments launched in 2026 aim to replace former department store space with 360 residential apartments and medical facilities, according to LoopNet, underscoring the area's role as a growing commercial and residential hub in eastern Seminole County.
