Crime Brief: Man arrested for public indecency at Ohio State’s Thompson Library

Kayla Byler
Thu, 20 Mar 2014 03:29:53 +0000
Campus, crime, ohio state, osu

A 59-year-old man was arrested for public indecency and criminal trespassing after being seen masturbating at William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library March 11.

A witness reported the man to library security who called University Police. The man had left the library but a witness followed him and pointed the man out to officers who arrested him inside the Ohio State bookstore at Enarson Classrooms Building.

A responding officer said he recognized the man as having been arrested previously for criminal trespassing and breaking and entering at OSU, according to a University Police report. Library security banned the man from all OSU libraries.

In January, Lonnie Sturdivant, a 56-year-old homeless man described as “an habitual offender,” was arrested for sexual imposition at Thompson Library.

Sturdivant was reported to library security for inappropriately touching female OSU students who were studying and police were called in, Deputy Chief of University Police Richard Morman said at the time. Sturdivant was arrested for sexual imposition, illegal use or possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of drugs.

Sturdivant might have also been previously involved with similar incidents at other locations around Columbus, Morman said at the time.

In an unrelated incident later the same week, two female students reported a man in Thompson Library exposing himself and masturbating while watching them. The man was described as white and about 60 years old with a “scruffy beard” but “clean cut,” according to a University Police report.

Library security conducted a sweep of the building but did not find the man. A library staff member reviewed surveillance video of the suspect leaving the building. In the video, however, the suspect was aware of the cameras and had taken his shirt off, using it to cover his face, according to the report.

All three cases are closed, according to University Police reports.

In another recent incident of criminal trespassing, a 40-year-old man, not affiliated with OSU, was arrested near Curl Drive March 6.

A man and woman, both 21 years old and not affiliated with OSU, were arrested for receiving stolen property and criminal damaging and endangering in the Fawcett Center parking lot March 10 at 12:20 p.m.

Property related to the incident included a Vera Wang purse and its contents, two Visa cards, Macy’s and Kohl’s cards, a BuckID and a checkbook. The property was valued at $50, according to a University Police report.

Earlier in the week, a 25-year-old woman was arrested for menacing by stalking March 8 at 7:13 a.m.

There were 38 total thefts reported on OSU’s campus from March 5 to Wednesday, including 18 during the university’s spring break from March 10 to March 14.