Bend thrift store public indecency leads to chase, arrest

A 50-year-old homeless man and convicted sex offender allegedly was found nude in a northeast Bend thrift store’s dressing room Friday afternoon, but put his clothes back on and ran before police arrived. He was arrested a short distance away after a brief chase, officers said.

Police were called at 4:17 p.m. Friday to the Regroup Thrift Store at 424 NE Greenwood Avenue on a report of a man exposing himself in a sexual manner, police Lt. Clint Burleigh said in a news release.

An employee who called Deschutes County 911 dispatchers said the man was found nude in a dressing room and had since left the scene, Burleigh said. She was able to describe the now-clothed man and give his general direction of travel.

An officer in the area found the man, identified as Shawn Lee Cline, on Northeast Fourth Street at 4:23 p.m., Burleigh said. The man ran and led the officer on a brief pursuit on foot before he was taken into custody less than a minute later near Roszak’s Fish House at Red Oaks Square, the lieutenant said.

Burleigh said initially that an investigation found that Cline had failed to recently register himself as a sex offender, though he said later that further investigation indicated that charge was likely to be dropped. Burleigh said he also drove his car to the thrift store with a revoked driver’s license.

Cline was taken to the county jail and lodged on two felony counts of public indecency and a misdemeanor charge of driving with a suspended license.

A jail officer said he was released from jail at 2:17 a.m. Saturday on his own recognizance, pending a Feb. 7 court date.

Last month, another Bend man, David Littlehale, 32, was arrested on public indecency charges, accused of taking off his clothes and masturbating in the aisles of four Bend retail stores since last April, including a Sept. 23 incident at the same thrift store.