Typically, reports of indecent exposure in Davis share a similar set of circumstances: a male suspect, acting alone, targeting teenage or adult women.
But Davis police say an out-of-town pair blew that stereotype out of the water Wednesday morning when a woman exposed herself to a pair of young children while a male acquaintance captured the alleged act on camera.
Wenyi Xu, 30, of Folsom; and 61-year-old Nicholas Bowen of Grizzly Flats, a small town in El Dorado County; were taken into custody shortly after the 9:25 a.m. incident on the north end of Community Park, near the Davis Art Center parking lot, Lt. Tom Waltz said.
Both suspects are state workers, police said Thursday — Bowen is the branch chief of the California Department of Public Health’s health information and strategic planning division, while Xu is a researcher for the same agency, Assistant Police Chief Darren Pytel said.
A person working in the park called police to report that a woman had just flashed two children riding past her on their bicycles while a man either photographed or took video, apparently with a cell phone, according to Waltz.
Wearing a jacket, “she would take whatever overclothes she had off and completely expose herself,” Waltz said. One of the youths reportedly fell off his bicycle during the incident, but did not appear to be injured. Both children rode away before they could be questioned by police.
Officers who responded to the scene detained and arrested Xu and Bowen as they walked northbound away from the park, near Alvarado Avenue, Waltz said. Both were lodged at the Yolo County Jail on indecent exposure, annoying a child, committing lewd acts in public and conspiracy.
Both remained in custody as of Wednesday night, with Xu’s bail set at $20,000 and Bowen’s at $30,000, a jail spokeswoman said. They are scheduled to be arraigned in Yolo Superior Court at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Meanwhile, Davis police are investigating whether others may have encountered the pair, either locally or near their hometowns in Sacramento and El Dorado counties. Anyone with information is asked to call the Davis Police Department at 530-747-5400.
Detectives also are asking the two children allegedly targeted by the pair on Wednesday morning to come forward to provide a statement, Waltz said. While the youth who fell is believed to have been a boy, the gender of the other child was unknown.
Although Davis is no stranger to indecent-exposure reports, police say this one ranks among the most unusual.
“Indecent exposure is a pretty common call for service, but it’s pretty rare when you have two individuals working in concert,” Waltz said. “What makes it even more disturbing is their target audience — juveniles.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
