Posted on 08/05/2005 4:50:45 PM PDT by SmithL
A 23-year-old Oakley man who police say frequently exposed himself to people on a popular hiking trail has been jailed after an officer videotaped him.
In April, people who walk along a stretch of Marsh Creek Regional Trail near the intersection of Main Street and Laurel Road began calling police about a man standing in the window of a nearby house, masturbating as they passed.
After a bit of detective work, police arrested a suspect, said Oakley Police Chief Chris Thorsen. Officers booked the man into County Jail in Martinez on Thursday on suspicion of indecent exposure, a misdemeanor.
"For the past three or four months we've been receiving complaints," Thorsen said Friday. "We figured out where he lived, so yesterday we sent out an undercover officer."
Police say the suspect reacted to women passing behind his house on Meadows Lane, part of a subdivision beside a short section of the trail. He exposed himself more than once to girls using the trail to get to Delta Vista Middle School, Thorsen said.
Police had difficulty finding the suspect because victims typically reported the incident after reaching their destinations, did not know the address of the house and could not identify the man who he hid his face behind curtains.
But after one victim provided an address this week, a detective in an unmarked car parked where he could see the windows of houses that line that section of the trail.
"About 8:30 a.m. (the suspect) appeared in a second-story window, popped off the screen and started doing his business," Thorsen said.
After filming with a video camera for evidence, police stopped the man and arrested him as he drove on Meadows a few minutes later.
Police are preparing to send the case to the Contra Costa District Attorney's Office, Thorsen said.
Most likely some Viagra popping Crack Head from the 'burg ...eerrr .... Bay Point !
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