Man accused of flashing UNF students arrested

Man accused of asking female students directions while masturbating

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man accused of exposing himself two female students on the campus of the University of North Florida and two women off campus is under arrest, charged with four counts of indecent exposure and one count of stalking.

According to the arrest report, Joseph Robert Jenkins, 27, approached three women on Jan. 8 while driving a red Ford Mustang and started masturbating. Since two of those incidents occurred in parking lots of UNF campus housing, the school issued a campuswide alert.

The third, similar incident happened the same day at the St. Johns Town Center. 

Police said Jenkins was actually pulled over on I-295 near this UNF entrance that day. He was questioned but released because the women couldn’t positively identify him. 

Jacksonville and UNF police, working together, connected the January incident to one that occurred last November, when a woman -- also a UNF student -- was followed from Arlington through downtown into Riverside by a man in a red car. 

"She drives into a highly populated area in Riverside. The guy approaches her anyway and she sees him masturbating," UNF Chief Frank Mackesy said. "Not only did she take the information down, but she took pictures of him in the car, the tag, the whole nine yards."

Mackesy said one of the women was able to positively identify Jenkins and he was arrested Monday. 

"The bravery of those two young ladies stepping forward and telling the police gave us the opportunity to get this pervert off the street, put him behind bars so he's not victimizing any women, no matter what age they may be," Mackesy said.

As Jenkins was already on supervised release on an armed robbery conviction, so he was ordered held without bond.

Police said they found his Facebook page, where he posted a video saying he does this because, “I got bad luck with dating.”

While Jenkins was located and remains in jail, campus police encouraged students to be cautious when approached by unknown individuals and to report suspicious activity to the University Police Department at 904-620-2800.

"I just want to (get the) message out there that if you come on to the UNF campus to commit acts of crime, we're going to investigate them. We can find out who you are and we're going to put you in jail," Mackesy said.