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Eustis man accused of molesting 9-year-old girl in bowling alley bathroom

LEESBURG, Fla. — A convicted sex offender was arrested Sunday after Leesburg police said he sexually assaulted a 9-year-old girl in a bowling alley bathroom.

Police said Cody Smith, 24, was seen on surveillance video at the VIA Port Entertainment bowling alley following the victim into the bathroom.

Police said Smith had a pocketknife when he was arrested, but he did not use it to hurt or threaten the child.

The victim told police that Smith crawled under the partition while she was in the stall using the toilet and began to touch her inappropriately.

“(He) crawled under a stall and inappropriately touched her on her leg, at which time she screamed,” said Lt. Joe Iozzi of the Leesburg Police Department.

She told police that Smith kept saying he was sorry as he touched her.

She screamed and a woman walked into the restroom as the defendant ran outside.

“We have never had anything like this happen here at VIA Port Entertainment,” said Stephanie Hayes, a worker at the bowling alley. “We never, ever would condone anything like this, so we took appropriate action immediately as soon as it happened.”

Smith’s cousin told police where Smith was headed, and officers found him outside a nearby Sears store.

According to an arrest affidavit, Smith is on a 10-year probation sentence for lewd and lascivious conduct on a victim under 16.

Court documents from 2012 said Smith pulled a young girl’s bathing suit bottom sideways and exposed himself to her.

The victim’s grandmother confronted Smith, and the paperwork said he told her, “I swear it was an accident. I’m really, really sorry.”

Smith is facing new charges of battery and lewd and lascivious conduct on a victim under 16.

“He is in jail and hopefully stays there for quite some time,” Iozzi said.