Fourth time a charm as serial flasher arrested, held for allegedly exposing himself in city again
WOONSOCKET — A serial flasher was ordered held at the state prison as a probation violator Friday after his fourth arrest for exposing himself in the city since 2013.
Frederick Joseph Powell, 58, of Willow Street, was arrested the previous afternoon after he allegedly exposed himself to patrons and staff at Subway, 483 Clinton St.
Police detained Powell nearby based on a description of his clothing given by eyewitnesses. He allegedly admitted to being inside the sandwich shop prior to his being stopped for questioning.
Patrol Officer Andrew R. Girard also cited Powell for carrying an open con- tainer of alcohol after officers found several unsealed beers and “nips” of hard liquor in a black satchel he was carrying. Those charges are a violation of a local ordinance that are adjudicated in Municipal Court.
Powell was booked and held overnight at headquarters for arraignment in Sixth District Court, Providence, where a judge set bail on the new charge, a felony, at $10,000 personal recognizance.
However, because Powell remains on probation following a May 2016 arrest for indecent exposure, he was ordered held without bail and remanded to the Adult Correctional Institutions as a violator, according to the online records maintained by the judiciary and the De- partment of Corrections.
Powell is due back in court for a violation hearing on March 2.
Powell was sentenced to three years, with 30 months suspended and 30 months probation, after pleading no contest to indecent exposure in Superior Court in October 2016.
Powell was arrested twice for indecent exposure prior to the offense that triggered the violation – once in 2015 and also in 2013, according to the judiciary’s database.
All of the charges were lodged against him by the Woonsocket Police Department.