SOUTH STRAFFORD — A man with unknown ties to the Upper Valley has been issued a no-trespassing notice after he took off his clothes in front of two women to go swimming in Lions Club Pond in South Strafford.

The man, whose identity was traced through the South Carolina license plates on his vehicle but whose ties to the Upper Valley are unclear, was served a no-trespass notice by the Lions Club following the second time this summer he appeared nude front of people at Lions Club Pond off Route 132 in South Strafford, according to a notice posted Aug. 6 on the town Listserv by the club.

Lions Club Pond is private property and managed under deed by the Lions Club for the use of Strafford families and their guests.  

Although there is no state law in Vermont prohibiting public nudity, the club has a posted rules at the entrance to the pond that “include among other things that bathing suits are required,” John Freitag, Lions Club Pond manager, wrote on the Listserv notice.

According to the Listserv notice, on the early evening of Sunday, Aug. 4, a “middle-aged white male with longish hair” removed his clothes in front of two women, “in order, he said, to go swimming. It made them extremely uncomfortable.”

It was the second incident this summer involving the same individual.

One of the women to whom the man exposed him self told the Valley News that she and her friend went to Lions Club Pond  around 6 p.m. on Aug. 4. When they got there they saw a man wearing shorts standing near the picnic table and smoking. They asked him how th e water was and if he was going swimming.

“Not yet. I’m going to swim now,” one of the women reported the man replying.

(The Valley News is not identifying the women at their request and is not identifying the man because no criminal charge has been filed against him).

The two friends moved over to the dock to “think (about) what to do” when the man “turned his back to us,” pulled his shorts halfway down his legs and exposed “his bare butt” as he walked to the portable toilet. When he got there, he took his shorts off all the way.

“We thought about leaving while he was in the toilet. But he quickly came back,” the woman said, as the man emerged naked from the toilet holding his shorts in his hand.

One of the women picked up her phone to indicate she was about to call someone. When the man saw that he walked to his car and “we waited for him to leave,” her friend said.

About 10 minutes later, after walking around naked in the parking lot, the man left, the women said. She decided it was safe to go swimming in the pond while her friend stood nearby and “kept watch.”

Then her friend noticed that the man had returned and “was quickly walking naked” again toward the pond.

She scurried out of the water and they ran to a nearby house in search of help, the woman said.

“He was walking naked along the shore and around the utility building (which is on the shore). We were afraid to go back to the car in the parking lot,” the woman said.

The female swimmer called her husband to come get them “because we couldn't get to our car,” she said.

Her husband and another friend arrived at the scene separately but the woman thinks the naked man took off when he noticed the vehicles pull into the parking lot.

However, it was as a result of a prior encounter with the same man at the pond a month earlier that police were able to identify him later.

The woman said she had seen the man display the same behavior on July 8 when she went to the pond to swim by herself.

“I had just finished swimming and was getting out of the water,” she related. “He came and started to undress. He took off all his clothes, sat on a bench and tried to talk to me. I turned around and saw him naked.”

At that point the woman ran to her car, she said. But also managed to snap photos of his vehicle and license plate number.

Vermont State Police were able subsequently to identify the man by running the South Carolina license plate number on his Chevrolet Tahoe vehicle.

The same man had been involved in an incident in Thetford in June, confirmed Sgt. Karie Tucker with the Thetford Police Department, who described it as a “one-person accident. Nothing came of it,” declining to provide further details.

Only the sketchiest information about the man other than his identity is known.

Norwich attorney Cabot Teachout, president of the Strafford Lions Club, said he signed the no-trespass notice but couldn’t confirm whether or not it has been served on the man. A check of Vermont court records did not show any dockets involving him other than a “traffic violation” from about 20 years ago, Teachout said.

Freitag wrote that he and Strafford Constable Ed Eastman "will be regularly checking the pond" and state troopers and and the Orange County Sheriff's Office have been notified of the trespass, suggesting they be contacted if anyone notices the Tahoe vehicle with South Carolina tags.

“I would also urge people not to go alone to the pond at this time,” Freitag said.

On Thursday, in a follow-up email to the Valley News, Freitag said “to date (the man) has not been seen in town and we are keeping a pretty close eye on things.”

Freitag said the experience has been “one of the toughest situations for me to navigate in over 20 years of managing the pond” on behalf of the Lions Club.

“Usually when someone breaks the rules at the pond, such as bringing their dogs or skinny dipping, I speak to them myself,” Freitag said in his email. “This was a little different as no one knows this person” or where he is residing.

Freitag said the reasons he posted about what happened at Lions Club Pond is to make users of the pond aware what happened but also that the man might read about the no-trespassing notice and be open to engaging with Freitag, who is willing to offer help if the man requires it.

“My hope is that if he does get in touch with me, I will be able, if he needs it, (to) get some assistance, while at the same time letting him know he is not allowed at the pond,” Freitag said via email.

Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.