After he was allegedly nude and masturbating while confronting two shoppers in the Rogue Valley Mall parking lot Mon., Jan. 31, a 19-year-old Southern Oregon University student was arrested the following day, on a charge of indecent exposure, police said.
Lance Alan Tausaga, Ashland, was arrested by Medford police at the Daniel Meyer Fitness Center on the SOU campus at about 7:30 a.m. Feb. 1, and lodged at the Jackson County Jail until he posted bail later that night.
Tausaga, who graduated from Illinois Valley High School in Cave Junction, Ore., is listed on the SOU Raiders’ football roster as a 5-foot-11, 210-pound sophomore linebacker.
According to statement from SOU, Tausaga is indefinitely suspended from the football team, and could face further discipline from the University as a police investigation into the incident unravels.
Medford Police took a report at about 11 a.m. Mon., Jan. 31, from a 40-year-old woman at the Rogue Valley Mall who said a nude man stepped out of a parked orange Chevrolet Aveo and approached her and another woman, described as a senior citizen, while he was openly mas turbating and verbally confronting them, police said.
The suspect fled the scene before police arrived, but an eyewitness provided a description of the suspect and the license plate number of the orange Chevrolet, which was traced back to the owner, Tausaga, police said.
Tausaga was unavailable for comment, as he did not return phone calls throughout the week, and had no longer in service, disconnected message at his phone number by Sunday.
The Mail Tribune reports that police investigators believe Tausaga could have been involved in a similar, unreported, incident in Medford within the past few months.
