DATE: Wednesday, October 15, 1997           TAG: 9710150457

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEWIS KRAUSKOPF, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   48 lines

EXPOSURE CASES MAY INVOLVE SAME MAN

Police think the man who threw an obscene photo at two 7-year-old girls on Oct. 7 in a Western Branch neighborhood might be the man who exposed himself to children last year.

The two girls were walking down Cannon Point Drive in the Point Elizabeth neighborhood at about 4:30 p.m. when a dark-haired man pulled alongside them in a dark-gray Jeep, police reports said.

The man then tossed a Polaroid photo of a naked male at the girls and drove off, the report said.

The man never approached the girls, nor did he say anything to them, according to the report.

This incident has similarities to others that occurred in Western Branch last year.

Last spring in the Dock Landing area, a man drove up to some children, pulled down his pants to expose his genitals, and drove away, said Detective Susan Mayo.

Then last summer, two similar incidents of exposure occurred within 30 minutes in the Dunedin neighborhood, Mayo said.

In at least one instance, the man said, ``Hey, look at this,'' Mayo said.

In each case, including the recent Point Elizabeth incident, the perpetrator was described as a white male with dark hair, driving a dark-colored vehicle, Mayo said.

In each incident, the man drove slowly, appeared to be watching the children, and appeared not to be concerned about adults in the background, she said.

``We're not sure this is the same person. . . . It's similar,'' said Mayo. Mayo is not assigned to the case, but the detective who is was not available.

If the man is the same perpetrator, then the police now have a more-detailed description. Witnesses described him as in his 20s or 30s, muscular, and with a crew cut.

Residents in Point Elizabeth reacted immediately to the incident. They put up about 25 fliers with a description of the man, asking people to ``Keep your eyes open.''

Mary Kay Edgar, a Point Elizabeth resident, said the neighborhood does not have a Neighborhood Watch program. ``But this drives home the fact that we should,'' she said.

Edgar and other residents warned people to be on the lookout and to call police if they have any suspicions. The nearby Western Branch schools also have been alerted to the incident, Mayo said.

``Any information is better than none,'' she said.

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