San Francisco

SF community raises concerns after naked man seen walking, following children

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Community members in San Francisco’s Castro District are raising concerns after they say a naked man was seen walking around and following children. Gia Vang reports. 

Community members in San Francisco’s Castro District are raising concerns after they say a naked man was seen walking around and following children. The incidents were caught on camera.

The videos and photos show a man who appears to be nearly naked and inappropriately touching himself.

“The problem is that now he’s been targeting kids because he’s been following kids he’s in front of the kids doing it and he’s been doing this for they said it for a year,” one San Francisco resident said.

According to the one of the witnesses, the man was doing these acts while looking on at her daughter and her friends.

The woman wanted to remain anonymous for fear of backlash against her daughter. But she said he has been recorded on many occasions by the group when they hang out weekly after school in the Castro District.

“When to have a kid, you sign up for a job to protect your kids you know to provide for your kids and my kid is not safe,” the parent said.

The woman went to investigate last week and sure enough, the man showed up near 18th Street and Noe.

"He puts oil on himself," he said.

He’s known to the many workers in the area. San Francisco worker Juan Hernandez said the man is concerningly punctual when children show up.

When police were called last week, they said the man was wearing only a sock. After investigating, police said they couldn’t do much about it.

San Francisco police released this statement on Tuesday:

“Through the course of the investigation, officers could not develop probable cause to arrest the subject.”

Legal analyst and former prosecutor Steven Clark said typically misdemeanors not committed in the presence of an officer has to be brought to the district attorney for prosecution. He added that investigators should do that quickly because there appears to be criminal conduct based on the video evidence.

“Clearly, I think the police need to be more aggressive in how they’re looking at this conduct,” he said. “When you masturbate in public like this in front of children ,that tells us something that is very different than dismissing it as public nudity."

Parents in the area said until the man is stopped, they will fight on.

“The Castro has other naked guys the nudist and they are all fine they mind their own business they are part of the story of San Francisco and but this guy is a different story,” one parent said.

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