A registered sex offender is facing multiple charges after police said he exposed and pleasured himself multiple times throughout Pembroke Pines, including in front of a child in a Barnes & Noble and an elderly woman in a church.
James William Santiago-Orengo, 59, was arrested Wednesday on multiple charges including exposure of sexual organs, providing false identity information to law enforcement, possession of a fraudulent driver license, failure to register as a sexual offender, and an arrest warrant out of Seminole County for exposure of sexual organs, Pembroke Pines Police said.
The first incident police investigated happened on April 28, when they responded after a man exposed himself and masturbated in full view of a juvenile customer in a Barnes & Noble on Southwest 5th Street.
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The next day, April 29, a man fitting the same description committed a similar act in front of a senior citizen while she was praying within Saint Boniface Catholic Church on Johnson Street, police said.
In both cases, the suspect ran away before police arrived at the scene.
Detectives were able to identify the suspect as Santiago-Orengo, a registered sexual offender who absconded from Orange County in November 2017, police said.
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On May 19, officers were alerted to a male seen masturbating and peering into a home window in the Saint Boniface Gardens community, not far from the church.
The suspect once again ran away before police officers arrived.
On Wednesday, the suspect returned to Saint Boniface Church and was recognized by employees from the previous incident.
The church employees immediately called 911 as the suspect ran away, but officers searched the area and found Santiago-Orengo in the parking lot of a nearby shopping plaza, police said.
"The combined efforts of our agency’s police officers, detectives, digital evidence examiners and crime analysts resulted in the arrest of a dangerous and habitual offender," Pembroke Pines Police said in a statement.
Santiago-Orengo was booked into the Broward jail where he remained held on $26,000 bond and out-of-county warrants. Attorney information wasn't available.
Police are asking anyone who may have been victimized by Santiago-Orengo to contact them.
