Man previously arrested 38 times caught touching himself in public

GASTONIA, N.C. — Dea Williams did not want to be seen by cameras as he was headed to jail again.

But one woman, who did not want her face shown, said the registered sex offender was not shy at all about committing a lewd act in front of her and her 18-year-old daughter.

"He was standing there looking straight at us," she said.

She said Monday morning she and her daughter were parked outside the York Chester Plaza where several county offices are located.

She said Williams leaned against the wall next to the probation office and began touching himself.

"He had a grin on his face like he was doing it intentionally. My daughter actually started crying," she said.

She said she used her cellphone to call for help from someone in the probation office. She said when an officer came outside Williams stopped. When the officer asked why he was there, Williams ran.

Then she called 911.

"The officer, when he got out there knew who this gentlemen was by name," said Sgt. K.C. McCabe of the Gastonia Police Department.

Williams has been arrested in Gaston County 38 times in the past 17 years.

Four of those arrests were for indecent exposure.

Last year, he was declared a register sex offender for felonious indecent exposure and placed under GPS monitoring.

This afternoon police caught him as he was walking to Lineberger Park where parents take their children to play.

"We do not want him to victimize anybody else," said McCabe.

WSOC