Image Credit: CFJC Today

By James Peters

Indecent Act

Lillooet man arrested, charged after second public masturbation incident in seven months

Jan 6, 2023 | 12:14 PM

LILLOOET, B.C. — RCMP in Lillooet want to alert the public that they won’t tolerate the indecent behaviour on display in the community earlier this week.

According to an RCMP release, police were called to the 700-block of Main Street at about 5:20 p.m. on Tuesday (Jan. 3), where a man was reported pleasuring himself in plain sight of everyone on the community’s main road.

When an RCMP officer attended, they “also observed the man in the act, providing significant evidence.”

The man tried to flee on foot, but RCMP were able to subdue him after a brief struggle.

The next day, Crown approved charges against Francis Copeland, who remains in custody.

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“This type of behaviour will not be tolerated in our community,” said media relations officer Cst. Andrew Hodges in the news release. “It is important for the public to be aware of these incidents, and to report indecent activities to police. We would like to thank the witness who reported the incident immediately. This allowed officers to obtain additional evidence and were able to confidently identify the offender; which is a piece that is often missing in these types of investigations.”

According to Castanet, Copeland was given 15 months probation by a provincial court judge after a similar incident last June.