Michigan’s decade-long manhunt for a serial flasher finally comes to an end.
Steven Todd Pastoor, 56, of Cascade, Michigan allegedly exposed himself to strangers for nearly twenty years before police finally caught up with him and charged the flasher with sexual delinquency. Pastoor ultimately confessed to “exposing himself from the waist down to residents while standing on their decks or porches.” Court documents show he had also confessed to indecent exposure in the past as well, two decades ago.
“We believe him to be responsible for several dozen indecent exposures over the last almost twenty years,” Kent County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Joel Roon said. Pastoor was given the name ‘Cascade Flasher’ and notoriously kept a hat and shirt on but insisted on removing his clothing from the waist down. Officers said he would knock on windows to see if someone was home before he would expose himself, masturbating. Evidently, Pastoor had no intention of slowing down despite the recent shelter in place order.
“In many of the incidents, the suspect would be attired in a hat and shirt, but nude from the waist down,” sheriff’s Deputy Paul VanRhee wrote in a probable-cause affidavit. “The suspect would often knock on a window to gain the attention of the unsuspecting victim, then expose himself and fondle his genitals.”
Pastoor allegedly began targeting the same woman at the beginning of the year. According to records, he “got onto her back deck several times and exposed himself.” The victim decided to install cameras around her home, and deputies reviewed footage identifying the man and his vehicle. They began conducting surveillance and eventually witnessed him peeping into windows of an apartment complex, the affidavit states. Officers would eventually arrest him half-clothed walking near a highway.
“The invasion of privacy that people experience when they’re in their home and they feel someone watching them is not lost on us. We take this crime very seriously,” Roon said.
“Police haven’t seen anything of this magnitude before,” Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young said. “We’ve devoted a lot of resources on this guy, trying to find the guy. Such crimes frighten victims.”
Michigan legislator defines a sexually delinquent person as one “whose sexual behavior is characterized by repetitive or compulsive acts which indicate a disregard of consequences or the recognized rights of others, or by the use of force upon another person in attempting sex relations of either a heterosexual or homosexual nature, or by the commission of sexual aggressions against children under the age of 16.”
Last year, in Canton, Michigan, police said a male suspect was involved in two similar incidents of indecent exposure. “Both incidents occurred in the evening hours, the first one being on July 15 in the area of Cherry Hill and Sheldon Road,” court documents state. “The second incident occurred on July 21, in the area of Hanford & Marshall Road.” In fall of 2019, authorities announced they are investigating five additional indecent exposure incidents. All involved approaching women either walking or jogging in the area. Whether there is a connection with Pastoor is not known. However, he will remain in prison unless it can be determined he is not a public threat.
Sources:
Mich. police say serial flasher sought for 2 decades arrested
Suspected flasher admits exposing himself for decades, police say
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