The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office is investigating two reports of a man flashing his genitals and masturbating in front of females near a beach area south of Santa Cruz, deputies said Wednesday.
On August 18, a woman told deputies she was hiking past a county sanitation facility on Lode Street by Moran Lake Beach in the Live Oak area at about 7 a.m. when she saw a man sitting on the trail exposing and sexually gratifying himself, Sgt. Kelly Kent said.
The suspect then turned and left the unincorporated county area, Kent said.
The man, described as Caucasian, about 20 years old, 5 feet 7 inches in height, clean-shaven with medium length hair and wearing dark clothing, fled the area before deputies could locate him, according to Kent.
Then on Sept. 12, at 7:07 a.m., deputies were dispatched to 22795 E. Cliff Drive in the area of Moran Lake Beach on a report by a female jogger who said a man exposed his genitals and masturbated himself toward her, according to Kent.
The woman was in the same general area as the first incident, behind the Lode Street sanitation facility on trails between 30th Avenue and Moran Lake, and told deputies that the man fled after she informed him she was calling the sheriff's office, deputies said.
The jogger said that the man looked like a Caucasian male adult with a dark complexion or a Hispanic male in his 30s, about 6 feet 2 inches tall with a normal build and wearing a red plaid hooded jacket.
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Deputies increased patrols of the area and obtained a surveillance video from the sanitation facility showing the suspect in the Sept. 12 incident running from the scene, Kent reported.
The sheriff's office believes that the same person was involved in both incidents even though the victims' descriptions of him differ, according to Kent.
Deputies are asking the public for help in apprehending the suspect and request those with information about him or who have experienced similar unreported incidents to call the sheriff's office dispatch directly at 831-471-1121.
