WATERVILLE — A 67-year-old man was charged with a misdemeanor Thursday morning after police allegedly found him naked on the Leeman trails.
Ricky Thompson, of Waterville, was summoned on a charge of indecent conduct, a Class E crime, when police found him on the trail that runs along Water Street from the power plant to the boat landing, Deputy Chief Bill Bonney said.
A woman walking on the trails with her two children, ages 8 and 4, reported Thompson to the police around 10:30 a.m.
She described him as a “naked elderly man” with a walker, so police went to the scene assuming it was a medical issue, such as dementia, Bonney said. Waterville fire and rescue was also dispatched, but later canceled.
After a half-hour search, police found Thompson “still completely naked,” according to Bonney.
“He claimed that he was sunbathing,” Bonney said.
The police had received similar complaints about Thompson in the past, Bonney said, but were never able to substantiate them enough to charge him. Earlier this year, police warned him to stay away from a nearby boat landing.
Thompson is set to appear in Waterville District Court on Oct. 3.
Bonney said the police department is watching the area around the boat landing more closely and assigning a bike patrol to the trails.
“We’ve had issues with the boat landing this year . . . It’s really supposed to be a place where people can take their families,” he said. “We’re not going to allow that to be ruined by people doing lewd things.”
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