Story So Horrible, I Had To Share...

Boy, 6, fondled in Bronx store
May 13, 2004, 10:34 PM EDT

A homeless man registered as a level-three sex offender was arrested in a Bronx Rite-Aid yesterday after he grabbed a 6-year-old boy and fondled him, police said.

Virerio Franceschini, 35, reached down the back of the boy's pants and then smelled and licked his own finger before kissing the boy on the mouth, police said.

The boy had separated momentarily from his grandmother, who was shopping in another aisle in the store on Southern Boulevard.

Security cameras in the store followed Franceschini around believing he might be a shoplifter, but instead caught the incident on tape. Security guards held Franceschini until police arrived. The boy was taken to Lincoln Hospital.

Franceschini, who lives in a homeless shelter on Garrison Avenue, has two prior sex abuse convictions, police said, as well as a dozen arrests on assorted charges.