Two separate incidents of a man exposing himself to Centennial secondary students in the last two months have prompted a warning from local Mounties.
According to a press release from Coquitlam RCMP, the first incident occurred on Sept. 10 at around 6 p.m. when two female students saw a man masturbating in an enclosed stairwell at the school. When he realized he had been spotted, he quickly fled the scene.
A similar incident occurred three weeks later when a different pair of female students were walking home from school. The two females saw a male with a bicycle standing at the side of Winslow Avenue near Tipton Street with his penis allegedly exposed. The students walked past without interacting with the male and reported the incident to the school the following day.
Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Jamie Chung said police cannot confirm whether the suspect was the same person in both cases.
"There is always the possibility it is the same guy," he told The Tri-City News. "It could be the same guy but right now we are treating it as two different incidents."
The suspect in the first incident is described as a Caucasian man in his mid to late 20s who is tall with a slim build; he has a light complexion with little facial hair and was wearing a black sweatshirt, black sweatpants and a ball cap.
In the second incident, the suspect was described as a Caucasian man between 20 and 30 years old with blond hair and some facial hair; he is approximately 5'10" tall and was wearing a T-shirt, baggy jeans and a ball cap.
In both incidents, the witnesses said they had not seen the suspect prior to the incident. The men showed no signs of aggression and made no attempt at physical or verbal contact with the girls.
Chung said Thursday that had police informed the public about the incidents earlier, it would have jeopardized the RCMP's investigation.
"Our investigators have worked with the witnesses and School District 43 administrators and staff since the very beginning in in both cases," he said in a press release. "A number of police tactics were used, including covert surveillance, which is why we were not in the position to release this information to the public until now.
"If our investigation of either incident had indicated a risk to the school community or the general public we would have worked with the school to release the information immediately."
Anyone with any information about the suspects is asked to call Cpl. Pat Mehain at 604-552-7369. Those who wish to provide information anonymously can do so by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or by going online at www.solvecrime.ca.
