PORT ANGELES — Students of Stevens Middle School have been advised not to walk to and from school on paths through a wooded area near campus after a nearly naked man was reported there Saturday.
A girl walking her dog through the area west of the school between 12th and 16th streets Saturday evening called Port Angeles police after she encountered a 40- to 60-year-old man wearing nothing but a reflective orange safety vest, said Erik Smith, school resources officer with the Port Angeles Police Department, on Tuesday. The girl’s age was not given.
Investigating officers did not find the man, who ran when the girl spotted him, but did find weathered pornographic images and handwritten notes hanging from trees in the area, Smith said.
Police could not confirm if the man was associated with the material hanging from the tree branches, since the notes appeared to have been written by a child, Smith said.
The author, or authors, of the notes claimed to be an attractive young woman seeking older, lesbian women, Smith said.
After the call, Smith said he contacted Stevenson Middle School Principal Chuck Lisk.
Lisk then issued an alert to students’ parents telling them to have their children avoid the trails through the wooded area west of the school for the time being.
Smith said he has not heard any other reports of less-than-fully clothed individuals in the wooded area, though did say the stand of trees is known to be a site of reported drug use by adults and juveniles.
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
