Penn State police are investigating two incidents of public masturbation on campus, which police said is often a "repetitive crime."
The first incident occurred on March 21 on the second-floor landing of McElwain Hall's main stairwell between 8 and 8:15 p.m., and the most recent incident occurred between 6:15 and 6:30 p.m. Friday in the stacks of the Pattee Library, police said.
In the library, police said the man sat behind the victim, attempted to start a conversation and then began masturbating.
In McElwain Hall, police said a man entered the building behind the victim and followed her to the stairwell landing where he began to masturbate.
Penn State Police Officer Ellen Aschenbrenner said public masturbation offenders are not always people with mental problems.
"If you're doing it, you're doing it more than once," she said. "They are seemingly outwardly normal people who have been known to do this type of thing."
Aschenbrenner said the descriptions of the offender are "very similar," detailing a college-aged black man with a medium build who is about 6 feet 2 inches tall. In both incidents, the man was wearing a medium gray sweatshirt.
She added that Pattee Library's stacks are no strangers to incidents of this type.
"There have been all kinds of things -- suspicious people looking under women's dresses," she said. "There's something weird always going on at Pattee, it seems."
Rather than showing fear, those subjected to acts of open lewdness should "just laugh," she said.
"Don't show alarm," she added. "They want you to look like you're scared. The reaction they are looking for is shock, surprise and fear."
Aschenbrenner said most of the time, sexually motivated crimes go unreported, and that calling the police is the best way to help catch the offender. Penn State Police Sgt. Don Hazel said the man, if caught, could face charges of indecent exposure, criminal trespass and open lewdness along with fines or jail time. Indecent exposure involves displaying one's genitalia and lewdness implies that the perpetrator receives sexual gratification from the exhibition. Anyone with information regarding these incidents is asked to call Penn State police at 814-863-1111.
