West Seattle Crime Watch: Suspected ‘serial exposer’ arrested

Seattle Police report this morning that the man they’ve been seeking in connection with at least five cases of indecent exposure – including an incident in Alki’s Whale Tail Park area – is in custody. From SPD Blotter:

The man detectives believe responsible for at least 5 indecent exposure incidents was arrested at his residence in Kenmore this morning at approximately 1:00 a.m. During the course of their investigation, detectives discovered that the suspect had been at Westlake Park, participating in Occupy Wall Street. Flyers of the suspect was circulated to officers and the public at the event.

The suspect was booked into King County Jail this morning for Investigation of Indecent Exposure.

Here’s our original report about the Alki incident; here’s the SPD report from last week about the search for him, including a sketch. Our fellow online-only neighborhood-news site CapitolHillSeattle.com has a bit more about how police found him. We’re checking on the suspect’s background right now, to see if he has any obvious West Seattle ties.

ADDED 11:16 AM: The suspect is 29 years old, according to online records. So far court records do not show anything major.

ADDED 3:49 PM: Since he is not yet charged, we are not using his name, but the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says he is scheduled for a bail hearing tomorrow.

Alki Resident October 18, 2011 (11:22 am)

This is the best news,what a relief.

odroku October 18, 2011 (11:43 am)

Can we make sure his fellow prisoners know just what it is he was doing? I hear that doesn’t go over well even among criminals.

interrobang October 18, 2011 (12:41 pm)

Agreed, @AlkiResident. Hopefully he gets put away for a while, and the help he needs.

OP October 18, 2011 (2:37 pm)

Now he’ll be occupying a jail cell.

JJ October 18, 2011 (2:53 pm)

Hopefully he gets put away–permanently.

Ah verdad? October 18, 2011 (8:47 pm)

Kiro 7 has already released his name AND a snapshot of his facebook page.

WSB October 18, 2011 (9:26 pm)

I’ll reserve my comment on that practice; no responsible media organization for which I ever worked had that policy unless there was imminent public danger – right now, the guy’s behind bars, so that part is ruled out. That’s the same name I found on the jail register – I looked him up and there’s no felony history apparent. The responsible old-school thing to do is to wait a day or two till the suspect gets charged, unless they are caught redhanded. Unless they know something nobody else does, I haven’t heard that he was. Tomorrow after the bail hearing, we’ll get the probable-cause documents that tell more of the story. – TR

Ah verdad? October 19, 2011 (6:21 am)

Tracy, one more reason for the West Seattle community to be thankful to have you – journalism at its best.
I look forward to your report.

Terry October 19, 2011 (10:44 pm)

Occupy Seattle!? NO! Those are 25- 30 people of Seattles finest! Must be a mistake. Crazy COPS!

JB October 20, 2011 (3:43 pm)

Just because he was arrested doesn’t mean he did it. There are lots of Seattlites that look like him. He just happened to be the unlucky one to be suspected.

WSB October 20, 2011 (4:00 pm)

He’s now been charged. I’ll be running a separate story, but this is from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Daily Docket: “Suspect charged in indecent exposure case, bail increased–A 29-year-old man arrested for exposing himself to children in Seattle was charged this afternoon with one count of Child Molestation Second Degree and five counts of Indecent Exposure. Jesse K. Drugger is scheduled for arraignment on the charges on November 3 at 8:30 a.m. at the King County Courthouse, courtroom 1201. Prosecutors requested and the court approved a bail increase to $250,000 from $100,000. The defendant remains in jail.”

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