DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. —  Police arrested nine people Thursday in a bathroom sex sting at the Volusia Mall, authorities said.

Among the nine were former Daytona Beach city commissioner and mayoral candidate Michael Shallow, and local high school teacher and athletic trainer David Behringer, police said.

All were charged with lewd and lascivious conduct, and exposure of a sexual organ.

Detectives were tipped off by Sears officials that sexual misconduct was taking place in its second-floor men's restroom.

Click here to see their mug shots and read the full story from the Daytona Beach News Journal.

As a way to attract attention from another interested person, the men either cough, sneezed, tapped their feet, sometimes under the stall next to them, or they made loud zipper noises, police said.

"Most everything that's occurring is nonverbal," said Sgt. Jeff Hoffman, supervisor of the criminal suppression team.

"It's scumbags like this that erode the quality of life that we have here," Chitwood said. "What scares me is that these are people that we trust to be political leaders, these are people that we trust with our children."

The men were booked into the Volusia County jail yesterday on $1,000 bond.

Material from the Associated Press and the Daytona Beach News Journal contributed to this report.