News

Ipswich man charged in series of flashing incidents

By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
Published: April 11, 2008

IPSWICH — For months, police in four communities were getting reports from women and girls about a man in a blue car who had exposed himself to them. But they struggled to put together a case.

They had a partial plate number — the letter P and the numbers 4 and 6 — and had learned that there was a blue Nissan Altima with those numbers on the plate registered in Ipswich. And they had a description, of a heavyset, scruffy man in his 20s or 30s.

When questioned by police in February, Nicholas Stevens gave conflicting statements — then pulled a police press release about the incidents from his back pocket and argued that he didn't look like the scruffy man in the composite drawing. Then he announced, "I need a lawyer," and left.

Finally, police got a break in the case several weeks ago, when one of the victims again recognized the suspect and his car at a downtown Ipswich Dunkin' Donuts.

Now, Stevens, 28, of 65 Clark Road, Ipswich, is facing charges that include two counts of open and gross lewdness, three counts of annoying or accosting a member of the opposite sex, and one count of child enticement — all stemming from a series of incidents between June and January. He has been charged so far in three of the five incidents reported to Ipswich police and may face additional charges, Lt. Daniel Moriarty said.

In addition, police in Danvers, Beverly and Hamilton are trying to determine if Stevens was the man at the wheel in very similar incidents in those communities, where he could also face charges.

Stevens pleaded not guilty yesterday during his arraignment in Newburyport District Court. Judge Allen Swan set bail at $5,000, an amount his parents were expected to post yesterday. The judge ordered that Stevens not be released, however, until he could be fitted with a GPS monitoring bracelet, a process that could take a day or two.

In addition to being tracked by GPS, Stevens, a housepainter, will have to obey a 7 p.m. curfew. Swan also ordered Stevens to stay away from the victims in the case, two women and a 13-year-old girl.

First incident in June

The calls started coming last June, when a woman walking her dog on Liberty Street saw the man sitting in his car, naked from the waist down.

There was a similar incident reported to Beverly police the next day, according to an Ipswich police report.

A few months later, police got more calls.

On Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, there were two more incidents reported by women who said they had been approached by a half-naked man in a blue car.

On Dec. 2, a woman on Linebrook Road said a man pulled up and asked her, "Do you want to play with me?" Stevens was not charged in that incident but is a suspect.

On Jan. 16, a 13-year-old girl near Jeffreys Neck said a man approached her in a blue car and tried to persuade her to get inside — the basis of the child enticement charge.

On Jan. 24, Hamilton police took a report from a teenage girl who said a man in a blue car approached her and tried to strike up a conversation, telling her "he needed a female touch." She didn't get close enough to see inside the car. Stevens is a suspect in that incident, because he was working at a nearby painting job. When police tried to question him about the incident, he claimed that he was simply waiting for a co-worker to come tell him which driveway to enter.

On Jan. 31, a girl walking on Washington Street in Ipswich saw a car near her home and noticed that the man inside was partially naked. She ran to her house, "flipped out," locked her doors and notified her mother, the report says. He has not been charged in that incident, but it is under investigation.

Danvers girl approached

On Feb. 19, a 12-year-old girl doing a paper route on Pine Street in Danvers called police after a man in a blue car approached her. Stevens was also part of a painting crew working nearby that day. When police spoke to his co-workers the next day, they claimed Stevens had been on the site all day and that someone had borrowed his car to pick up lunch.

That incident came five days after Ipswich police questioned Stevens. During an interview, Stevens said he had been followed by people taking pictures of him and suggested that it was a case of mistaken identity.

Then, he pulled a folded copy of a press release with a composite drawing of a scruffy suspect and pointed out that he did not look like the drawing because he had a mustache and the man in the drawing did not. At the time of the interview, he appeared to be growing a mustache and goatee.

During his court appearance yesterday, he had short hair and a neatly trimmed mustache and goatee and wore a Red Sox jersey and green cargo pants.