The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a former TV weatherman on charges he allegedly had sex with two underage boys, including one who lived in Boca Raton at the time, the report says.
PBSO said Robert J. Lopicola, 42, was taken into custody on charges of sexual activity with minors, lewd and lascivious battery, computer pornography and child exploitation. Lopicola formerly worked at WPTV Channel 5 for eight years before leaving in 2006. He was arrested in Wilton Manors, where he had recently moved, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera.
The PBSO report said that the two teens told authorities they engaged in sexual activity with Lopicola sometime between August 2010 and April 2011. They met him through advertisements placed on the Craigslist website, the reports said. One of the boys was 15 at the time and lived in Boca Raton, authorities said. But he did not come forward with information about the alleged incident until he moved in with his uncle in Michigan. The boy is now 16, the report said.
The teen told police the two met after the youth placed an ad on Craigslist. The ad stated he was 18 years old, but the teen said he later confessed to Lopicola that he was actually 15, according to the arrest report. The teen told investigators the two had a sexual encounter in Lopicola’s car parked near the boy’s home, according to the report. The suspect’s other alleged victim was 17 at the time and lived in West Palm Beach, according to authorities. The PBSO report said the teen’s mother came home one day to find Lopicola hiding in the shower.