By Jonathan Smith, Managing Editor
After a man exposed himself to two women on Oct. 24 and Tuesday, the ACU Police Department is checking with the Abilene Police Department and the other universities in town to see if similar reports have been filed elsewhere.
Although no other reports have been filed, Jimmy Ellison, chief of ACUPD, said they are increasing patrols of the outer perimeter parking lots, where both occurrences happened-one in the west parking lot across from Campus Court and the other on Oliver Jackson Boulevard near Powell Fitness Center.
“My experience has been that typically a flasher like this is not just doing it in one particular place,” Ellison said. “As soon as we get a report of it, we let everyone know to be on the lookout for him in case he does go to a different part of the city.”
Ellison and Wayne Barnard, dean of Campus Life, decided to send out an e-mail to all students Wednesday evening alerting them of the situation.
“We feel the need to give a timely warning so they can call us if they have useful info, but we don’t want to alarm anyone,” Barnard said.
Ellison said he also just wanted the students to be aware of the situation but not alarmed.
“We stressed in the e-mail that there was no threats or no attempts to lure either victim,” Ellison said.
In the e-mail, the suspect was described as “a male, possibly Hispanic, 18-20 years of age with medium- length dark hair driving a silver-colored vehicle.” The license plate might have contained the letters THK.
Ellison said in both instances, the suspect stayed in his car and exposed himself as he drove past the women. Even though no other threats were made, Ellison said they aren’t taking the situation lightly.
“But it’s something that we take very seriously,” Ellison said, “because sometimes these things can lead to progressive behavior where he might do something one notch higher next time.”
If caught, the suspect could be charged with indecent exposure, a Class-B misdemeanor, and face up to six months in jail and up to $1,000 in fines for each offense.
