EVERETT — One woman was so afraid of the stranger who flashed her as he drove down I-5 that she asked her fiancee to follow her to work in case the man found her again.
A second woman added 30 minutes to her commute just to avoid the man who nearly side-swiped her on the freeway before exposing himself.
Both women told police that a man driving a blue Infiniti G35 pulled alongside their vehicles as they drove north on I-5, caught their attention, made lewd gestures and masturbated, according to court papers. They said it happened multiple times while they were headed to work between March and July.
One woman encountered the man often enough to give him a nickname: “The Infiniti masturbator,” according to court papers.
Charles Porter was arrested July 20 in Seattle for investigation of indecent exposure. Police believe Porter, 42, stalked women on the freeway while he drove from his home in Kent to his job at an Everett aerospace company. He allegedly exposed himself to the women and made gestures, attempting to get them to expose themselves, too — all at freeway speeds.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Michael Downes on Wednesday ordered Porter held without bail pending a hearing next week to revoke a suspended sentence stemming from a 2008 conviction for indecent exposure. Porter pled guilty, and admitted to masturbating while at the wheel numerous times in 2007 next to women who were driving on Highway 99 in Everett. He told investigators that he couldn’t help himself, court papers said.
Porter was sentenced to three months in jail, with two months of the time suspended, provided he didn’t commit any new crimes for two years.
Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Chris Dickinson asked Downes to revoke the suspended sentence and send Porter to jail for two months.
Dickinson told the judge that Porter was back to his old tricks.
Two women had identified him as the freeway flasher who had hunted them down on numerous occasions as they commuted to work, court papers said.
The first woman reported on July 13 that she was driving to her job in Seattle when a blue Infiniti G35 pulled up to her truck. The driver paced her truck, peering in from each side. He held a pornographic magazine high up on the steering wheel, rolled down the tinted windows and stared at her. The man then exposed himself and masturbated. The woman said she tried to drive away but he pursued her. Finally, when she picked up her cell phone to call 911, he backed away and stayed behind her truck. His car didn’t have a front license plate.
She told police similar freeway flashing incidents happened with the same man three or four times.
Another woman told a similar story that same day. She was driving to work on I-5 near Lynnwood when the car drove up close to her Honda. The man was masturbating. She recognized the man from a similar incidents about two months earlier.
A Washington State Patrol trooper advised the women to immediately call 911 if they saw the vehicle again.
The first woman told the trooper she was going to carry a camera with her to get a picture of the man the next time she saw him. She said he usually followed her on Mondays.
The trooper received a call at home July 20 with news that a Seattle police officer had stopped Porter.
The first woman had asked her fiance to follow her to work because she was afraid.
The Infiniti driver found the woman again as they traveled along I-5. The driver was holding a pornographic magazine on the steering wheel. The woman held up her phone and dialed 911. The suspect exited the freeway. The woman’s fiance stayed on his tail until Seattle police were able to make the stop.
Porter was arrested. He declined to give the trooper a statement. Both women told police that Porter was the man who’d repeatedly stalked and flashed them on the freeway, according to police reports.
No charges have been filed in those incidents.
Downes ordered that Porter be jailed Wednesday while the Kent man’s attorney reviews police reports and interviews the witnesses.
Defense attorney Anthony Howard argued that his client shouldn’t be locked up. Porter has been undergoing sexual deviancy treatment since August, Howard said. He’s disclosed his problems to his family, including his wife who sat next to him in the courtroom Wednesday. He is not a danger to the community, Howard said.
Downes disagreed.
“I cannot in good conscience allow Mr. Porter to remain free to inflict himself on a some unsuspecting woman who is simply trying to drive to work,” the judge said.
Porter is registered as a sex offender in Texas. He was convicted in 2001 of exposing himself and masturbating while staring at people in a vehicle, including a 15-year-old girl, according to court documents. He had previous conviction in California, too.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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