Guelph Police investigating acts of exposure in various areas of the city

After issuing a media release to residents on Tuesday, Guelph Police have discovered that incidents of exposure in that city’s Margaret Greene Park are more widespread than initially thought. Asking residents to remain vigilant as they continue to investigate, those instances began as early as last week Wednesday, as a local resident reported seeing a nude male sitting on a bench in Exhibition Park. Throughout the last week, that male suspect has also been spotted in Riverside Park near the pedestrian bridge making a vulgar gesture at a woman before putting on shorts and leaving the area.

Scott Tracey is the media relations coordinator for Guelph Police and said police have responded to several calls involving that naked man in Margaret Greene Park, though they have not yet been able to locate him. That suspect is described as an Asian male in his 30s or early 40s, between 5’7” and 5’10” with short dark hair and a heavy build. Tracey notes that in one instance after being spotted by a resident in Exhibition Park, he was seen entering a silver Toyota mini-van and leaving the scene.

“There were four incidents at Margaret Greene Park, and it appears three incidents that we learned of subsequently – two at Exhibition Park and one at Riverside Park.”

According to Tracey, anyone that encounters the naked man in the city’s parks should call 911 – as he cautions that residents should not approach him. If approached by the suspect, Tracey said residents should put some distance between them as he said that police “don’t know who this person is or what he’s up to.”

When asked if this sort of pattern of indecent acts is uncommon, Tracey noted that it was “unusual” to have so many being done by the same person.

In addition to the above instances, Tracey also noted that Guelph Police have a separate open investigation involving a male that has approached women on four occasions in various areas of the city on while exposing himself on a bicycle. Tracey said that suspect is described as a white male with a medium build, said to be between the ages of 30 to 40 with no facial hair. That suspect was last spotted wearing all black with a beanie or ball cap, riding a dark coloured mountain bike.

“Certainly, the goal of putting this information out is to make people aware. We wouldn’t ask people to necessarily change their behaviour – we don’t want to suggest that anything the victims are doing is inviting this, but we want to make people aware that this is going on so they’re more aware than usual of their surroundings.”

Anyone with information regarding either incident is being asked to contact the Guelph Police Service or Crime Stoppers.