Sunday, November 23, 2003

Oddly Enough - Reuters
Flash Camera Flasher Nabbed?
Fri Nov 21,11:15 AM ET
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CHICAGO (Reuters) - Police may have captured "the naked photographer," a camera-carrying man wearing nothing but sunglasses and a cap who has been snapping pictures of startled women for months, authorities in Ohio said on Thursday.



Stephen Linnen, 33, was arrested Wednesday night after he allegedly confronted a woman in the laundry room of a residential complex, said Sherry Mercurio of the Columbus Police Department's Public Information Unit.

"We feel confident he's the one," she said.

The woman -- believed to be the man's 39th victim since he first struck in April of 2002 -- reacted by trying to grab the flasher's stocking cap from his head, Mercurio said. The woman called police who cornered the man shortly thereafter.

Linnen was charged with one count of public indecency and one count of assault, the latter for pushing the woman in the laundry room when she tried to grab his hat.

He was released on bond Thursday but arrested again a short time later by police from a Columbus suburb where at least one of the flashing incidents occurred.

"He just pops up, flashes the camera, laughs and runs off," Mercurio said. "He doesn't attack during the winter."

She said investigators do not know what the flasher does with his pictures.