ST. GEORGE — A St. George man has been arrested and now faces lewdness charges after he reportedly exposed himself to a woman and her 4-year-old.
Officers responded Tuesday to Royal Oak Park on 1400 West off Snow Canyon Parkway in St. George shortly after 1 p.m. on a lewdness report.
According to charging documents filed with the court, officers arrived and spoke to the caller who said they arrived at the park with a 4-year-old family member. As the pair were making their way up the bike path towards the entrance to the park, the reporting party said she saw a man sitting at one of the picnic tables.
The table faced the bike path, according to the report, and as the two walked by, the suspect reportedly exposed his penis and began to masturbate. The complainant said she proceeded into the park and called police.
The officer also noted the incident took place within view of both the caller and the young child, according to information included in the report.
Officers located the suspect, 40-year-old Randy Banks, who police say admitted to exposing himself to the caller and the youngster, telling officers he knew what he did was wrong, according to the report.
The suspect also said “he wouldn’t do that again,” the officer noted, and shortly thereafter he was arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility where he was booked into jail facing one count each of lewdness involving a child and lewdness – first or second offense.
The officer also noted this was not the first report of Banks allegedly showing his genitals to children, the officer noted, adding there was a previous report containing similar allegations that did not result in a conviction.
St. George News reached out to Santa Clara-Ivins Police Sgt. Reed Briggs, who said the incident was reported at Fire Lake Park in Ivins in August of last year when officers responded to a report of a man exposing himself at the park.
Officers identified the suspect as Banks, who reportedly exposed his genitals to the reporting party, an adult, but at the time, Briggs said, there were families and children recreating at the reservoir when the alleged incident took place.
The suspect left the park and the complainant did not want to pursue the call any further, so the incident generated a police report, but no charges were ever filed in the case. He also said the recent incident in St. George appears to be an escalation of what officers saw in Ivins last year.
Following the arrest Tuesday, Banks was formally charged with the offenses and was released from jail on his own recognizance the following day. A court date has yet to be scheduled in the case.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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