Palo Alto Police Seek Man Who Exposed Himself to Girl Walking Her Dog

A man driving a newer, black hatchback exposed himself to an 11-year-old girl as she walked her dog last weekend, and Palo Alto police are now looking for the suspect described as white, unshaven with a goatee, with short, dark hair and in his 30s to 40s.

Palo Alto police said that on Friday morning, the girl’s mother contacted the dispatch center to report the incident that allegedly occurred on Sunday, Feb. 22.

On that day at about 4 p.m., the girl was walking her dog eastbound on the north sidewalk of El Dorado Avenue, just past Bryant Street, when she saw a man seated in his vehicle with the engine running.

The car was parked on the north side of El Dorado, facing westbound, police said, and as the child walked past the car, she glanced briefly at the man. As soon as she passed the car, the car left and turned northbound on Bryant, police said.

A short time later, the girl was walking northbound on the west sidewalk of the 2700 block of South Court. when she noticed the same vehicle parked in front of her -- this time facing south along the west side of South, police said.

The car’s engine was still running, but the victim noticed that the front seat passenger’s window was open, and as she walked by, she saw the suspect in the driver’s seat and he was naked from the waist down and masturbating, police said.

The suspect did not say anything to her, police said, but the girl was frightened and walked away quickly. The man reportedly immediately drove off on South Court toward El Dorado Avenue, and the victim went home and told her mother, police said.

The girl described the suspect as wearing sunglasses, a tight-fitting black tank top, and driving a newer black hatchback with tinted rear windows.

A police artist may produce a sketch of the suspect in coming days, and that will be released by the department.

Detectives are investigating this case and any possible connection to four indecent exposure events reported in Palo Alto in October (including cases involving girls who were 14, 13, and 10 years old, two of whom also happened to be walking dogs). While the general suspect descriptions in the cases are roughly similar, the vehicle descriptions are not.

For details on those old cases, visit our news release archive:www.cityofpaloalto.org/gov/depts/pol/press.asp.