Ocalan, 71, blames interrupted date for sex act in front of baby

OCALA – A 71-year-old Ocala man blamed a lost opportunity for sex with a woman for his decision to masturbate in front of a 7-month-old girl.

Ocala police arrested David M. Dilda early Thursday morning and charged him with lewd or lascivious exhibition.

In an interview with the Star-Banner following his first appearance in court, Dilda said a 62-year-old woman called and asked him to meet her at a bar. Dilda - a retired member of the U.S. Air Force and a retired electronics technician - said that on Wednesday, after meeting the woman, whose name he declined to reveal, he took her home, hoping "something would happen."

He said those plans were interrupted when another woman he knows called and asked if he could baby-sit her daughter.

Dilda said he abandoned the 62-year-old woman and went home to baby-sit the little girl. The infant's mother told police she carried her daughter to Dilda's residence so she could rest. But she decided to return to Dilda's residence to tend to her daughter's food.

When the mother arrived, she didn't see Dilda or her daughter. Then she walked into Dilda's bedroom and reportedly saw him masturbating while the baby lay on the bed, according to a police report. The baby was naked from the waist down.

"I was thinking about what could've been," Dilda said, making reference to the date. "It's a 7-month-old child. There's nothing there to sexually arouse someone."

The child's mother took the infant to Munroe Regional Medical Center to be examined. A doctor found no outward signs of trauma, according to the report.

A Department of Children and Families caseworker was notified, and the child was taken to Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville for further examination.

"God, no, I've never done this before," Dilda said when asked if he had touched or harmed the baby in the past.

According to the police report, Dilda told a detective he has kept the child on several occasions and this has never happened.

County Judge Sarah Ritterhoff Williams ordered Dilda not to have any contact with children and no contact with the victim or her mother. His bail was set at $15,000.

"I'm very sorry, and I'm very ashamed of myself. You don't know how ashamed I am," Dilda said during the interview.

Hormel 2Q rises on lower costs, maintains outlook

Hormel Foods said Thursday its profit rose in the second quarter as pork costs fell and Spam continued to sell well.

Austin, Minn.-based Hormel Foods Corp. said earnings rose 14 percent to $77.6 million, or 56 cents per share, on sales of $1.59 billion. That compares with earnings of $68 million, or 49 cents per share, on sales of $1.5 billion a year earlier.

Thomson Financial reports analysts expected earnings of 55 cents per share on sales of $1.58 billion for the quarter which ended April 27.

The company also stood by its 2008 profit forecast of $2.30 to $2.40 per share, despite concerns about rising grain and energy costs. Analysts expect earnings of $2.37 per share.

"Although we hope to build on our solid first half results, we anticipate further pressure from increasing grain and energy costs," the company said in a statement.

More than half of Hormel revenue comes from its refrigerated foods division, where operating profits rose nearly 26 percent to $55.6 million. However, operating profits for Jennie-O Turkey Store turkey dropped 16 percent to $11.7 million because of high feed and energy costs. The same factors also hurt its specialty foods segment, where operating profits fell almost 5 percent to $15.5 million.

"We were able to meet our company objectives for sales and earnings growth in the second quarter amidst a challenging operating environment," said Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Jeffrey M. Ettinger in a statement.

The company cited strong national promotional support for higher sales of Spam, the company's canned meat. For the first half of the year, Hormel earned $165.7 million, or $1.20 per share, up from $143.3 million, or $1.03 per share, during the same period a year ago. Revenue rose to $3.22 billion, from $3.01 billion during the same period last year.