Serial flashers at it again in Bellingham, police release new sketch

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Bellingham police say there is more than one serial flasher — and they’re at it again.

In just the last four days, there have been three incidents of men exposing themselves to women in public near the Western Washington University campus — but this has been happening since July.

With a path that that goes straight to Western Washington's campus. RB's In and Out convenience store has a customer base that is almost solely college students.

“Cup of noodles, lots of chips,” manager Janeah Burdick says of the typical purchases.

And while Burdick says a 20-something man who fit that bill came in Saturday and bought the big sellers, he came back and quickly distinguished himself from the regulars; he exposed himself to the clerk.

“She was obviously uncomfortable and she told him to leave,” Burdick said.

He did, and Bellingham police are once again chasing a serial flasher or flashers.

“We have at least two if not more people that are doing this,” explained Bellingham Police Sergeant Claudia Murphy.

Since summer, Murphy says there have been 15 exposure incidents. They stopped in mid-November and started again late last week.

Police say the first of this second round of incidents happened on a residential street early Friday morning.  As a woman was getting in her vehicle to leave for work, police say she saw a man across the street masturbating.

Then there was the incident at the store Saturday, and Monday night, a woman reported a man outside her window exposing himself.

Murphy believes that man was likely the same man from Friday morning.  He's described as slender, white, with sunken eyes.

Murphy believes the man who hit RB’s In and Out is likely a second suspect who victimized a woman we spoke with last month.  Murphy says that man is described as east Indian or Hispanic.

"I've got a couple detectives that are just working their hearts out trying to get this guy,” she told us.

We were there Tuesday when one of those detectives was interviewing Burdick, who says really all she wants is to run her store, sleep soundly, and walk in her city without worrying.

“For me personally, it's just more frustrating than scary,” Burdick said.

Still -- this crime is usually just a misdemeanor unless it turns out the suspect has been charged with this before or exposed himself to a child.

Cox Media Group