photo by: Mike Yoder

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St.

Multiple days this summer in Lawrence, several joggers, bikers and a woman walking her dog all reported seeing a man exposing himself around the Kansas River trails.

In one incident, he was sitting on a bench wearing lacy women’s panties. In another, he was totally nude, moving among the trees. One jogger said the man asked for the time, and when she looked back up after checking her phone he was exposing and touching himself.

The dog-walker told police that the man stopped her then stood up and walked toward her, still fully exposed, while asking to pet her dog.

The dog growled at him, the woman said, and they kept moving.

Anthony W. Williamson, 29, of Lawrence, has been sentenced to jail time and treatment after being convicted of lewd and lascivious behavior in connection with those incidents.

He’s currently serving a five-month sentence in the Douglas County Jail for two counts. On Thursday, Douglas County District Court Judge Paula Martin sentenced him for a third count to another six months in jail, part of which he will spend at an inpatient treatment facility.

Martin told Williamson to come back to court after he completes treatment, and she would consider whether to grant him parole. If he is paroled, she said, she would set conditions at that time.

Williamson’s listed address was the Lawrence Community Shelter when he was arrested earlier this summer, according to jail records.

Williamson’s appointed attorney, Michael Corrigan, said that while in jail Williamson has been trying to get copies of his identification documents and has been looking into job possibilities.

“Mr. Williamson’s been trying to improve his situation,” Corrigan said. “He’s truly sorry for the trouble he caused.”

Prosecutor Hannah Wittman said that if Williamson is later released on parole, she wants a sex offender evaluation and requirements to attend ongoing alcohol and drug abuse meetings. Wittman said Williamson’s cases showed “escalating” behavior and noted that his actions had impacted victims.

“This behavior is extremely concerning to the state,” Wittman said.

Williamson initially was charged with a total of four counts of lewd and lascivious behavior, all misdemeanors, but one was dropped when he pleaded no contest to three counts, according to the district attorney’s office.

The Journal-World requested and received from the court affidavits prepared by police in support of Williamson’s arrest in the two cases. The affidavits include the victims’ accounts of incidents that occurred in June and early July, all during the day.

photo by: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Anthony W. Williamson

After the first report, in early June, a Lawrence police officer responded to the area near Eighth and Oak streets and spotted Williamson naked on the trail, according to the affidavit. The officer temporarily lost sight of Williamson in the trees then found him sitting in the river — still naked — and arrested him. Williamson told the officer he’d been using methamphetamine and marijuana.

Williamson was booked into jail that day but released without being charged, jail records show.

N 8th St & Oak St, Lawrence, KS 66044

In early July, police went to Burcham Park after a walker reported seeing a man in women’s panties masturbating on a bench, according to the affidavit. Officers found Williamson there but he denied the report. Finding no other witnesses, officers told him they didn’t have probable cause to arrest him and left.

Later that day, though, the woman with the dog called in to report seeing a man matching the same description exposing himself earlier that morning and on another recent morning, too, according to the affidavit.

Burcham Park Trail, Lawrence, KS 66044

Two days later, responding to a call from the jogger, police went to a section of trail east of the river under the Interstate 70 bridge and found Williamson still there, according to the affidavit. Williamson told officers that he had asked the jogger for the time and exposed himself, acknowledging he’d been investigated multiple times in the past for masturbating in public.

Police arrested him, and he was soon charged with the reported incidents.

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