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HomeNewsGrovetown Flasher Strikes Again – At Dollar General Near Subdivision

Grovetown Flasher Strikes Again – At Dollar General Near Subdivision

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A Grovetown man who was given probation for a series of flashing incidents in 2018 has started exposing himself again, authorities said.

Michael Scott Stephens Jr., 28, was captured Tuesday night and identified as the creepy suspect who pulled out his junk at the end of Aisle 10 at the Dollar General in Grovetown. He has been charged with two counts of felony public indecency – third or subsequent conviction.

Saturday’s lunchtime incident was captured in a viral video posted online that shows him tugging and jerking as a woman walks by. The 29-year-old woman was shopping on the laundry detergent aisle and screamed when she saw the 6’5″ tall suspect pleasuring himself, a sheriff’s report says. The suspect then ran from the store.

Stephens has also been linked to a May 22 incident near the Indian Springs subdivision when he pulled up to a woman on her bicycle and asked directions.

The 23-year-old woman walked up to the man’s white Ford F150 and told him how to get back to the interstate. When she was done giving directions, the suspect asked her, “What do you think about this?”

“(She) looked into the vehicle and saw the male with his shorts pulled down exposing himself to her,” a sheriff’s report says. “He then placed a hand over his penis and began ‘jerking off.’”

The woman told the suspect, “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.” She then got back on her bicycle and began to pedal away. The suspect yelled, “Hey, hey, hey,” as she was pedaling away.

The victim returned home and called the sheriff’s office.

In 2018, Stephens was living in Augusta when he was tied to a string of parking-lot sex crimes in the area.

He exposed himself to a woman and her 4-year-old daughter at Lulu’s Car Wash in Martinez. The woman said the man parked right beside her in an empty parking lot and began masturbating.

“He targeted us,” the mother said at the time. “There is something about people like that who are sick.”

In a second 2018 arrest, Stephens is accused of masturbating while in his car outside the Grovetown Walmart.

“A lady says she was returning to her vehicle when she noticed a white male sitting in a silver Ford sedan, rubbing his groin,” Maj. Steve Morris said. “She noticed more movement and the male had his penis out and was masturbating. She left the parking lot and called 911.”

Stephens was not put on the sex offender registry because his crimes were not eligible for the list. But he was put on 24/7 monitoring until probation ended in 2021, authorities said.

Stephens is currently being held without bond at the Columbia County Detention Center.

Sila Reilly, the victim in the 2018 incident at Lulu’s Car Wash, is furious with authorities for a plea agreement that she calls “completely inappropriate.” Asked about her opinion on his new arrests, Reilly said, “I told you so. What do you want me to say?”

Reilly has posted videos on her TikTok account, warning people of Stephens with documentation of his earlier crimes. She said Stephens was given probation, fines and sent to a Christian treatment facility that did not have doctors or proper treatment for sex addicts.

“It was a pray-your-sickness-away place,” Reilly said. “It was literally a joke.”

She said prosecutors never accounted for her 4-year-old daughter being a victim when she saw the man, which could have led to a more serious charge and a felony.

“I am very angry because all of this was preventable,” Reilly said.

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Greg Rickabaugh
Greg Rickabaugh
Greg Rickabaugh is an award-winning crime reporter in the Augusta-Aiken area with experience writing for The Augusta Chronicle, The Augusta Press and serving as publisher of The Jail Report. Rickabaugh is a 1994 graduate of the University of South Carolina and has appeared on several crime documentaries on the Investigation Discovery channel.
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