Drunk man accused of ‘molesting’ manatee statue in Florida restaurant

Anthony Lessa “molested” a plastic manatee statue and threw alligator-shaped chicken nuggets into a Florida restaurant, police say

For once, this “Florida Man” doesn’t hail from the Sunshine State.

A tourist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was arrested in Florida for “molesting” a statue and throwing “gator nuggets” in a restaurant.

Anthony Lessa, 23, was arrested on 8 December on a charge of disorderly conduct, according to Pinellas County arrest records. The police were called after Mr Lessa allegedly “molested” a statue of a manatee, threw gator nuggets inside a restaurant and then shouted expletives at a nearby hotel, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.

Mr Lessa was released just hours after his arrest.

The ordeal began when a restaurant employee told Mr Lessa he had paid his bill and he needed to leave, causing him to become upset, according to the sheriff’s office. Outside the restaurant, Mr Lessa “molested” the restaurant’s plastic manatee statue and staff asked him to leave, the sheriff’s office wrote.

He then became “physically aggressive” with the employee and began throwing “gator nuggets” into the restaurant before fleeing. Mr Lessa later showed up at a nearby inn and yelled obscenities at an employee there — when he refused to leave, the employee called the police, the sheriff’s office wrote.

Body cam footage of his arrest posted by the sheriff’s office shows Mr Lessa had pocketed some left-over gator nuggets before his arrest. Mr Lessa also repeatedly asked what he was being arrested for before entering the police car.

“I thought it was cork,” one of the arresting officers said during his arrest. “I was like, ‘why does he have cork in his pocket?’”