Minooka Masturbator Detained At Joliet Motel 6, Police Say

JOLIET, IL - A resident of Minooka was captured by Joliet police on Monday in connection with a second incident of public masturbation near a Joliet business parking lot in less than two months. Clifton A. Mason, 34, was cited on two separate misdemeanor counts of public indecency. Mason lives in the 500 block of Minooka's Rivers Edge. Joliet Deputy Police Chief Ed Gregory said the first crime happened around 1 p.m. on August 25 when a 33-year-old trucker had parked her rig in Joliet's 400 block of Olympic Boulevard, which is near Houbolt Road and Interstate 80.

The location was an isolated area. While the woman was in her truck facing eastbound a brown Cherokee Jeep suddenly pulled up facing her. "She could see he was masturbating," Gregory told Patch on Tuesday. "He rolled down his window, and made a lewd comment to her and drove off." The woman wrote down the license plates and called Joliet police. Officers traced the jeep's registration back to Grundy County and it belonged to Mason. Officers were sent to his address in Minooka but Mason was not there, back in August.

Then Monday morning, Joliet police say they learned of a second incident involving the Minooka resident.

Around 9 a.m. a 55-year-old woman visiting the Walmart on West Jefferson Street was approached by Mason, police said. He was inside a van in the parking lot with his pants down and masturbating, Gregory said. "She took her cell phone and videotaped him," Gregory said. Once Mason noticed the woman, he stopped what he was doing and sped away from Walmart, according to police. Mason sped way heading east. Joliet's patrol officers located Mason at the Motel 6 in the 1800 block of McDonough Street, Gregory said. He was captured and charged with two counts of public indecency, one being the incident from late August.

Because both crimes were misdemeanors Mason was not taken to the Will County jail. Instead, he was released on an I-bond.

File image Joliet Patch