Boca Raton Bowl Student Reporter Sues Over Man’s Private Part

Says Hilton, Palm Beach County Knew Suspect Was A Problem Before He Exposed Himself…

WEST PALM BEACH, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A woman who says a man sexually gratified himself in front of her inside a women’s restroom at the Hilton West Palm Beach is suing the hotel, Related Ross LLC and Palm Beach County. She was in the area for the Boca Raton Bowl in December 2024.

It happened Dec. 17, 2024. According to West Palm Beach Police, the woman — identified as a student reporter — stepped out of her stall in a restroom off the hotel’s convention connector and saw a man in the stall directly across from her, door propped open with his foot, touching himself while making eye contact. She ran to the front desk and pointed him out as he walked through the lobby. Hotel security video showed the man following her from the lobby to the restroom corridor, police wrote.

Bruce Bernard Stone, 36 at the time, was arrested Dec. 24, 2024 and charged with felony exposure of sexual organs after the woman picked him out of a photo lineup. Police say Stone had two prior felony indecent exposure convictions.

The civil suit was just filed Palm Beach County Circuit Court. Named as defendants are Related Ross, LLC; Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., doing business as Hilton West Palm Beach; and the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners. Attorneys with the St. Petersburg firm Phillips, Hayden & Labbee say the alleged victim is seeking medical expenses, lost wages and a “significant amount” of non-economic damages, with no dollar figure calculated yet.

BocaNewsNow.com obtained the original police report leading to Bruce Stone’s arrest and eventual conviction. The text of that arrest report is below.

>> [WEST PALM BEACH POLICE REPORT] On December 17th, 2024, at approximately 1529 hours, I responded to Hilton Hotel (600 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL. 33401), in reference to a Lewd and Lascivious incident.

Upon my arrival, I made contact with (REDACTED) who provided me with a sworn statement. (REDACTED) advised that she returned to the Hilton Hotel at approximately 1445 hours, to use the woman’s restroom. Once inside of the Hilton hotel, (REDACTED) went into the bathroom, then into the first stall on the left side. After (REDACTED) finished using the restroom, she opened the stall door and began to walk to the sink, however, she was startled when she seen a black male in a stall located directly across from her bathroom stall. The door was propped open by the black male’s right foot. The black male was seated on the toilet with his pants pulled down halfway to the middle of his thighs. (REDACTED) advised that she saw the black male masturbating. (REDACTED) advised that she could only see the top of the black male’s penis. She did not see any identifying scars or marks on the top his penis. (REDACTED) also advised that the black male did not make any noises, or say anything to her, however he did smirk while making eye contact with her. The male stopped masturbating and attempted to get up. (REDACTED) ran out of the bathroom to the front desk. While reporting the incident to the front desk staff, (REDACTED) saw the black male exiting the lobby. (REDACTED) pointed to the black male and identified him as the black male from the bathroom. (REDACTED) advised she would be able to identify the suspect if she were to see him again.

(REDACTED) described the male to be black, about 5ft 9inches to 6 ft. tall, wearing a white shirt with dark pants.

I made contact with hotel staff who escorted me to the security room to view the security footage. I was able to see the following: Viewing the main lobby camera, at 1438:51 hours the black male is seen sitting on an east facing bench on the outside of the hotel in the pick up and drop off area. At 1439:39 hours (REDACTED) (dressed in a black jacket and skirt, with white shoes) walks through the lobby door, then straight back though the lobby, turning left to enter a hallway. At 1440:10 hours, the male walks into the lobby and continues straight through the lobby turning left to enter the hallway. The male begins to pick up his pace while following (REDACTED). Viewing the Oceana Coral D.E. camera, at 1440:28 hours (REDACTED) enters another hallway continuing to the bathroom. Viewing the coral E.C.B, at 1441:21 hours, (REDACTED) enters the corridor which is an open hallway to enter the men’s and woman’s bathroom. At 1441:46 hours the suspect enters the corridor. Viewing the convention connector security camera, at 1445:18 hours (REDACTED) rushes out of the bathroom to the front desk. At 1446:05 hours the suspect is seen rushing out of the corridor. Viewing the coral E.C.B the suspect is seen trying to exit out of the doors that lead to the lawn and pool area, however, those doors were locked and the suspect had to return to the lobby to exit. Viewing the Main lobby security footage, at 1447:30 hours, the suspect is seen walking through the main lobby making eye contact with (REDACTED) as she points at him, identifying him as the suspect. The suspect continually looks over his shoulder in (REDACTED)s direction while exiting the building. The suspect is last seen walking north out of the hotel.

Prior to walking into the woman’s rest room where the incident happened, I observed a corridor that was labeled with a male and female restroom symbol. Upon walking through the corridor, you will arrive at the men’s restroom, and then upon continuing on, you will reach the woman’s restroom. Both the male and female restrooms are clearly marked. The suspect was observed passing the men’s restroom and then entering the female. Upon walking into the bathroom, there were six stalls in total, with three stalls on the left side and three stalls on the right side of the restroom. The stall doors were attached at the henges. The length of the doors was attached from the top of the door frame and continued down to the floor. It should be noted that due to this configuration, is not possible to see inside of a stall from the outside, therefore the male would not have been able to see any of (REDACTED)s sexual organs.

On December 19th, 2024, Officer Downie conducted a photo line up with (REDACTED) circled and initialed the photograph on the bottom left of the photo lineup (Bruce Stone B, M 11/09/1988). (REDACTED) advised that she recognize the male as the male the was in the bathroom across from her masturbating. See Officer Downies supplement for further information.

A need to identify was shown to Officer Blake who immediately recognized the male depicted in the photograph as Bruce Stone (B, M 11/09/1988) from a previous case (20230010462). This case involved similar incidents in which Bruce was convicted on (2) counts of 800.03(12B)- Felony indecent exposure adjudicated guilty by the court on 06/15/2023 and 01/18/2024.

Based on the above information, I have probable cause to charge Bruce Stone (B, M 11/09/1988) with one count of FSS 800.03(2)B Exposure of sexual organs.<<

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