Costa Mesa police investigate whether suspect might be serial flasher

Police are investigating whether a man arrested last week on suspicion of flashing a woman in Costa Mesa is responsible for almost a dozen similar incidents across the city.

A 38-year-old woman called police around 6:30 p.m. March 22 to report that a man had exposed himself to her near the 3400 block of Summerset Circle, according to authorities.

She told officers that the same man had flashed her in the same neighborhood in November, according to the Costa Mesa Police Department.

Based on a description of the man and the blue Toyota Camry he was driving, police detained 24-year-old Costa Mesa resident Marlo Ezekiel Afuang, police said.

After the woman identified Afuang as the man she said flashed her, police arrested him on suspicion of indecent exposure.

Police are now looking into whether Afuang is tied to a string of similar incidents, Costa Mesa police Lt. Paul Beckman said.

From the beginning of August to the end of December, police took 10 reports of a male exposing himself or acting lewdly. The incidents were in four neighborhoods throughout the city, according to a flier police distributed in January warning residents.

One of the neighborhoods identified in the flier includes Summerset Circle.

Afuang and the woman who was flashed twice did not know each other, Beckman said. Police are unsure whether the woman was specifically targeted, Beckman said.

However, Beckman added, “it certainly leads one to question whether or not he was specifically there for that particular individual.”

Afuang was booked into Orange County Jail and is free on $500 bail, according to Sheriff’s Department records.