BRODY OSTRANDER

Brody Ostrander, the alleged “Moundsville Flasher,” stands accused of exposing himself to people in Tyler County while a case against him in Marshall County is pending.

Ostrander, 19, of Proctor was dubbed the “Moundsville Flasher” following a series of incidents in 2010 in which he allegedly exposed himself to traffic along W.Va. 2 and in other areas of Marshall County. Since he was arrested and indicted on indecent exposure charges, Ostrander’s case had been delayed so a psychological exam could be conducted. No hearings have taken place on those charges for several months, and Ostrander was free on bond while the examination was conducted.

On July 19, Ostrander’s bond was revoked by Circuit Judge David W. Hummel after Ostrander was arrested and charged with indecent exposure by the Tyler County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies were dispatched to W.Va. 18 near Kidwell after an eye-witness reported a man naked from the waist down had walked in front of his vehicle.

While deputies were en route on Main Street in Middlebourne, they passed a vehicle matching the description given by the witness.

“As they were approaching the vehicle, the deputies noticed the driver was naked from the waist down,” said Tyler County Sheriff Earl P. “Bob” Kendle Jr.

Ostrander was arraigned by Tyler County Magistrate Mike Griffin, who set his bond at $20,000. Unable to post bond, Ostrander was remanded to the North Central Regional Jail.

While still incarcerated for the first count in Tyler County, Ostrander was charged by the sheriff’s office with a second count of indecent exposure. According to reports, a half-dressed man confronted a woman who was jogging along W.Va. 18 south of Middlebourne on June 30. Kendle said the woman identified Ostrander as the suspect in this case.

Additionally, New Martinsville Police Department Investigator Donnie Harris said Ostrander is a “person of interest” in another incident that allegedly occurred in New Martinsville on July 16. He said at 5:03 p.m. a call came in reporting a flasher in the 400 block of Martin Avenue between North and Virginia streets. There were three witnesses to that incident, including two children. Charges in that case are pending, and Harris speculated there could be more incidents in New Martinsville that will result in charges.

Ostrander’s original charges in Marshall County stemmed from a series of incidents from January through April 2010, when at least three incidents of a flasher were reported. The final incident occurred in April 2010, when a woman reported she had been flashed by a man who jumped out of a vehicle at the Old Ferry Landing.

According to police documents, the woman told investigators that a few minutes earlier she had driven past a car with a male driver that had stopped at the intersection of Fish Creek Road. After she passed the vehicle, the woman said the driver pulled out and passed her car. The driver then pulled off the road, “got out of his car and flashed her,” the woman said.

When deputies arrived, the vehicle had already fled the scene. The woman was able to give officers a partial license plate number and a description of the vehicle. According to the report, the man was driving an early 1990s model, dark green Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Two additional charges were brought against Ostrander in May 2010, stemming from similar crimes that allegedly occurred in January and March of that year.

In January 2010, a woman jogging on First Street in Moundsville observed a dark, late-’90s model Monte Carlo with a white male driver, the report states. The woman told investigators she continued jogging and was passed by the car a second time.

When the woman turned onto Pine Avenue, she saw the driver standing outside the vehicle with no shoes or pants on and a T-shirt pulled over his head, the report states. The woman was able to give investigators a license plate number for the vehicle.

Then in March 2010, Moundsville police dispatchers received a call from a woman saying a man had just exposed himself to her 12-year-old daughter and a friend. That incident occurred near the intersection of Center Street and Hickory Avenue, according to reports.

The two girls told police they were playing basketball on Hickory Avenue when they saw a man across the alley. They said he had his pants pulled down and was watching them, the criminal complaint states.

A city employee who was in the area before the alleged flashing was a able to give police a license plate number and a description of the vehicle. That information matched the vehicle that had been seen in the January incident, the report states.