SARASOTA - A 9-year-old boy was arrested after he lifted a girl's skirt and touched her, authorities said.
The boy, a third-grader at Booker Elementary School, was released to his parents after being booked Monday at the Sarasota County Jail on charges of lewd and lascivious molestation.
School principal Gwendolyn Rigell said the boy had been suspended before because of a pattern of "repeated acts that are sexual in nature."
According to an arrest report, the boy and the girl, who is also 9, were riding on a school bus Friday when he grabbed her hands and held them behind her back in the seat; he then lifted her skirt and touched her, the report says. He also pulled her shirt up around her neck, saying, "Look, she is not wearing a bra," according to the report.
If the boy is found guilty, potential consequences could include outpatient therapy, probation and juvenile commitment, prosecutors said.
