Some Rohnert Park Parents Outraged that Identity of Man Who Exposed Himself to Young Girls Not Releasable

Rohnert Park police arrested Andrew Christopher Riley, 36, last week for multiple acts of exposing himself to young girls near three area elementary schools — Waldo Rohnert, Monte Vista and John Reed.

According to officials at the Sonoma County Courthouse, Riley is being charged with 12 misdemeanors — six counts of indecent exposure and six counts of soliciting lewd acts. He was booked at Sonoma County Courthouse April 20, according to court records and released the same day on $25,000 bail.

Riley's case has a growing group of Rohnert Park residents upset that they don't know what this guy looks like. They are demanding the release of Riley's photo so they know who it is that could be lurking around Rohnert Park and Cotati schools, and they're doing it through social media.

According to Sgt. Jeff Nicks, Riley has a previous criminal record, but not for lewd acts or indecent exposure. Riley does not appear on the Megan's Law page and he is not a registered sex offender in Rohnert Park. There are 14 registered sex offenders in the area, according to Megan's Law.

"Ummmm ... he is out on bail, we have no idea what this guy looks like," said Katie Weber on her Facebook page last week. "As the parent of three school aged children in Rohnert Park, I am very disappointed that I was not contacted about this ... I read it in the paper. Can the Press Democrat get us a mugshot and address, please. Guilty until proven innocent, but so many victims?"

"I want a picture of this man," Weber wrote. "He is out of jail and back on the streets in his Prius already. I want to know what he looks like since he is prowling around my kids."

The comment on Facebook started the conversation, drawing more than 20 comments on three different posts.

So, can the press get a mug shot? Well, in short, the answer is no.

According to officials at the Sonoma County jail, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office, the courthouse and the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, though some agencies have a mugshot of Riley, it's against their policy to release it — no matter what — even if he's convicted of the offenses.

"We’re not allowed to give that out, it’s considered restricted from the public," said Yasmin Mandujanl, a senior legal processor with the courthouse. "It’s something we consider secret, even if he was convited, it’s something we wouldn’t give out anyway."

Kim Fowler, a legal processor at the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, said it's against department policy to release the photos.

"Every department is different, but we just don't release them at all," Fowler said. "Sometimes it's up to the individual police departments to choose to release them."

Nicks was under the impression that the mugshot was public information. 

"We don’t have that, we don’t take a mug shots," Nicks said. "The jail would take a mug shot of him."

Terry Menshek, a spokesperson for the District Attorney's office, confirmed that is was their policy not to provide mugshots.

Nicks said in all six violations, which occurred during the month of March, Riley would honk his car horn or wave to get the girls' attention, then expose himself.

Police responded to the  March 2 about a block away from John Reed Elementary School. Riley had pulled his gray sedan up to a nine-year-old girl.

“He pulled up right next to her so that when she looked at him, she saw the man was exposing himself,” said Sgt. Troy Moore. “She immediately took off running to school and reported the incident.”

One of the girls pointed out to a parent one of the two cars that Riley was seen driving in, a Toyota Prius, Nicks said.

Police worked with area schools and residents to get leads on the suspect. The parent took down the license plate and notified police, which led detectives to identifying Riley as the suspect, Nicks said.

Police note: Although a suspect has been arrested in this case, we still encourage school aged children to walk in groups and/or in the company of their parents or trustworthy adult.    

A of this article was published at Rohnert Park Patch last week. Riley is scheduled to be in court May 11 at 8:30 a.m.