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Aggressive flasher gets jail time Unlike most, this one grabbed one of his victims By CHRIS BRISTOL A Prospect man who accosted women in the woods -- minus his pants -- got more than a slap on the wrist for a sex offense that usually draws a much lighter penalty. Randy Lee Bean, 42, tapped his fingers nervously on a courtroom table Friday morning, avoiding all eye contact, as Jackson County Judge Ray White sentenced him to 120 days in jail and five years of supervised probation. His crime: public indecency, a Class A misdemeanor. Also known as flashing or exposing, the so-called PI cases occur more frequently in the Rogue Valley than most people realize. Prosecutors say Bean's case was more disturbing than most. A self-employed carpenter, Bean confessed to two of three "accidental" incidents in May in which lone women said they were accosted by a man -- his pants down or missing altogether -- who harassed them verbally as he openly masturbated in their presence. In one incident, on a hiking trail by Lost Creek Lake, the victim said Bean began to chase her. In another, the victim said Bean grabbed her foot outside a public restroom at nearby Takelma Park. One of the victims was in court Friday. She told judge that she was less concerned about the lewdness -- "If you were just naked ..." -- than the way Bean ambushed her. "The fact that he snuck up behind me, I nearly had a heart attack," she said. "I'm not used to running like that." By then, White had heard enough. He told Bean that his probation would be dominated by intense sex-offender treatment. For up to five years. "This goes beyond the normal public indecency case," White said. "This was more aggressive than normal." The judge also warned Bean that he faces additional jail time of up to 1 years if he fails treatment, which includes regular polygraph testing to keep tabs on his activity and his progress. He gave Bean a week to report to jail. "I'm sorry for what happened," Bean mumbled. "It won't happen again." After the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Debbie Minder described the case as the "most aggravated" she ever prosecuted involving public indecency. Under Oregon law, public indecency is a crime if it involves sexual intercourse in a public place or exposure of genitalia for sexual arousal. "Public" also means any place in view of a public place, such as a residence from the street. In most cases, she said, PIs shy away from physical interaction. They want victims -- almost always women or children -- to see them, but that's it. It happens more than most people realize, even those in law enforcement. According to Jackson County court records, prosecutors filed 20 cases involving public indecency last year and 18 so far this year -- a number that is generally thought to reflect only a small fraction of actual incidents. "I've never had one grab somebody," said Minder, who estimates she's prosecuted 20 cases in three years. "That really concerned me in this case." Sam Olsen, a county parole and probation officer who specializes in the treatment of sex offenders, said PIs are usually difficult to treat because the behavior is compulsive to the point of serious mental illness. "We have a battle for their mind," he said. "Some we lose. Some we don't." Moreover, case studies have revealed that many rapists start out by committing less serious crimes such as public indecency. Olsen said Bean's behavior was a red flag. "Normally PIs try to stay away from victims," he said. "I was particularly concerned about his aggression." Regardless, whether an offender becomes violent or simply continues to expose himself, Olsen said the public should not take public indecency lightly. "If you talk to victims, they are quite often frightened," Olsen said, "because they never know what he might do." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA