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Sonoma police release flasher photos

Sonoma police have circulated photos of a man they believe exposed his genitals to two different women, once at Safeway and once at Sonoma Market.

The first incident occurred at about 9:10 p.m. Friday, Sept 28, when a female shopper reported that a white man in his 50s or 60s dropped his shorts and exposed his genitals in aisle four of the West Napa Street Safeway store.

Following the exposure, the man pulled his pants back up and ran out of the store.

Less than an hour later, at approximately 10:05 p.m., police got a report from a female employee at Sonoma Market, diagonally across the street from Safeway, that a similar incident of exposure had just occurred.

The woman said she was putting away the flower display in front of the store when a white man in his 60s, wearing blue shorts, took his hands away from the waistband and they fell to the ground, exposing his genitals.

The man then pulled the shorts up and ran northbound out of the area.

Police examined surveillance footage from a store camera that captured images of the man, revealing that he actually tried to expose himself to the victim twice, but the first time she had her back to him and didn’t know he was behind her.

She went back into the store for a moment and when she came outside again, he tried a second time and finally succeeded in exposing himself.

Police then examined a surveillance video from the Safeway store that revealed the same man walking about the store, although the moment of exposure was not captured by the cameras.

Surveillance video from both incidents reveal a man with white hair, a white shirt and blue shorts. Police briefly released a photo of a man with a goatee from the Safeway surveillance camera, but later withdrew the photo for being of the wrong person. After further scrutiny of the Safeway footage, they released a second image they are now certain is consistent with the unambiguous Sonoma Market images.

Police ask that anyone recognizing the images, or with other information about the Safeway/Sonoma Market suspect, to contact them at 996-3602. The suspect is described as being in his 50s or 60s, with white hair, wearing blue shorts and a white T-shirt.