73-Year-Old Mall-Walker Banned From L.I. Shopping Center

WEST ISLIP, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island widower said he was shocked when he received a letter banning him from the Westfield South Shore Mall in Bay Shore for six months.

Anthony Arcese, 73, is part of a group of senior citizens who for years have been walking the mall for exercise.

"When you walk the mall one time around it's a half a mile so all of us do like six times -- it's a three-mile walk, then we sit down, we have a cup of coffee, we talk, we joke and we laugh," Arcese told 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera.

He said he used the mall bathroom several times, before the mall officially opened, and was cited for trespassing.

Now, he can't go anywhere near the mall until the ban expires on July 15.

A letter from management said Arcese is "restricted from entering" the mall property, including parking lots, entrance sidewalks, restaurants and entrance roadways.

"I can't go shopping, I can't go to IHOP, I can't go nowhere near the mall," Arcese said.

His walking buddies call the ban excessive.

"It's ridiculous," Dennis Mattia, 67, said.

"You think kids get bullied? Well, unbelievable or not, old people get bullied," Marie Mattia, 68, said.

1010 WINS is awaiting a response from mall management.

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