By ELAINE SILVESTRINI
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The man who headed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Tampa has pleaded no contest to charges he exposed himself to a girl in a mall food court and ran away from security guards.

Frank Figueroa, 49, originally said he was not guilty. His trial was expected to begin tomorrow.

File Photo.

Figueroa, once one of Florida’s highest-ranking federal law enforcement officers and the former head of a national program formed to target child sex predators, was arrested Oct. 25 at The Mall at Millenia in Orlando.

He was charged with exposure of sexual organs and disorderly conduct, which carry a potential punishment of more than a year behind bars.

A sentencing hearing is tentatively scheduled for May 9.

Rachel Wright, the 16-year-old who reported the incident, said Figueroa pulled up a leg of his shorts, exposed himself and masturbated for about 10 minutes.

“I glanced once because he seemed very strange, and I caught a look of his penis,” she said. “I was shocked, so I sat and thought of what I should do.”

Although TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune have a policy against publishing the names of victims in sex cases, Wright and her mother, Cleme Consalvo, have chosen to go public.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837.

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