RCMP have arrested an Okotoks resident in a string of incidents where a man exposed himself to young people in town.
On Monday a 36-year-old Okotoks man was arrested and charged with eight counts of indecent exposure and seven counts of causing a disturbance.
The man’s name is not being released as Okotoks RCMP continue to investigate. He is not known to RCMP.
Cpl. Sharon Franks of the Okotoks RCMP said they want to make sure no victims can be identified by releasing the suspect’s name.
“We need to make sure no one can identify these victims,” she said.
Cpl. Franks said residents can rest easy now that an arrest has been made.
“We want to assure the community of Okotoks that he is not out there doing this,” she said.
The man was in Calgary court Monday for a bail hearing, but the results of that hearing were not available by the Western Wheel’s press deadline.
Last week RCMP made public two complaints and police have since received more complaints. In total there were eight victims, Frank said, between June 19 and July 14.
In one case, on June 19 around 5 p.m. a man walked past two girls near the Drake Landing soccer fields with his genitals exposed.
The mother of one of the girls said her daughter and a friend, both 10-years-old, were walking through the park at the time when a man walked past them fully exposed.
“They didn’t realize until they got six feet away or so,” said the mother, whose name is being withheld to protect her daughter’s identity. “He didn’t stop, didn’t look at them, he just walked by. But they noticed and that was it.”
When they turned around, she said her daughter’s friend saw the man zipping up his pants and walked away into the community.
The man did not say anything and did not come into physical contact with the girls.
The woman said it puts her families mind at ease that there has been an arrest, but she said there are still a lot of questions.
“It gives everybody some peace of mind,” she said. “I just want to know what (the arrest) means. Does he get fined, will he go to jail, will he be back in that house?”
The woman’s daughter was happy to hear an arrest had been made, she added.
“She keeps asking ‘have they got the guy mom?’ so obviously its on her mind,” the concerned mom said.
Since the incident the mother said she put restrictions on where her daughter could go and said the neighbours have been working together to keep an eye out for a suspect and have also been stricter on where their children can go.
“Everybody is restricting their kids to their own backyard,” she said.
The man involved in the June 19 incident is described as white, five-foot-six-inches tall, and slightly overweight with a wide build. He was wearing a dark baseball hat and cream coloured plaid shorts with dark brown and dark green lines.
A similar incident occurred July 14 when a man walked past two girls in the area with his genitals exposed before leaving the area.
In that case the man is described as approximately 30 years old, wearing shorts and a Minecraft T-shirt with the “creeper” character on it. He drove away in a dark, mid-sized SUV.
Anyone with information about this case or believes they were victimized is asked to contact police at 403-995-6400 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477).
