A homeless man who once wore a pink bra while panhandling on a busy Ocala roadway is back behind bars.
An Ocala Police officer was called to the area of S Pine Avenue and SW 17th Street on Monday and when he arrived, he reported seeing 41-year-old Christopher Todd Piscitelli standing in the middle of the roadway holding a sign that said, “I am a beggar, in God we trust.” The officer made contact with Piscitelli and advised him to safely cross the street so he could speak with him.
The officer asked Piscitelli what he was doing with the sign and he said he was begging. The officer told him that it was illegal to panhandle within the city limits of Ocala and Piscitelli responded that panhandling was not the same as begging, a police report states.
While speaking with Piscitelli, the officer noticed that he was wearing a hospital gown. When questioned, Piscitelli said he had been drinking and had been admitted to an area hospital for being intoxicated. The officer reported that Piscitelli “reeked of alcohol” and he placed him under arrest, the report says.
Piscitelli was transported to the Marion County Jail and charged with panhandling. He is due to be released from the jail on Nov. 18 and has a court appearance scheduled that same day.
Piscitelli is no stranger to the Marion County legal system, having been held in the jail 23 times since May 2008. During those arrests, he’s faced charges – some more than once – of panhandling, disorderly intoxication, trespassing, littering or illegal dumping, disorderly conduct, possession of marijuana not more than 20 grams, disturbing the peace, open container, criminal mischief, petit theft, obstructing or hindering traffic in order to solicit, domestic battery, resisting an officer without violence, driving under the influence, knowingly driving with license suspended or revoked, felony battery and soliciting within a roadway with receipt of money.
Piscitelli, who has been arrested five times in 2019 and frequently flashes large grins in his jail mugshots, found himself behind bars in April for trespassing at an Ocala laundromat for the second time in two weeks. He also was jailed in October 2018 after he was caught panhandling on SW Hwy. 200 while shirtless and clad in a pink bra with white trim and blue shorts.