Cyclist arrested for exposing genitals

Police arrested a cyclist whose genitals were hanging too low to be considered an accident, according to a police report.

An officer driving in the 1300 block of Guthrie Avenue at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday spotted a man wearing only a pair of red shorts pedaling westbound. He was headed toward an intersection with 10 to 15 occupied cars, but his penis and testicles were clearly hanging out of the leg of his shorts, the report states.

The cyclist continued past the officer with his genitals still in clear view.

"At this point, I assumed that this male was either intending to expose himself to the general public, or was intoxicated, or had a mental condition and was not aware that his genitals were fully exposed," the officer wrote.

When the squad car turned around, activating its lights, the cyclist pulled over and put his genitals back inside his shorts. The officer took this to mean that the man knew "exactly what he was doing," according to the report.

David Charles Wolz, 61, of Des Moines was identified as the offending cyclist who apparently became upset when the officer stopped him, asking why he'd been stopped.

Wolz said that he had no idea that his genitals were showing, the report states.

Wolz admitted that he'd been arrested for indecent exposure before. He's a registered sex offender with an indecent exposure charge from 2003 and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct from an incident in 2010 in Minnesota.

"Due to David concealing his genitals immediately upon my initiation of a traffic stop, I believe that David had knowledged that his actions were offensive and that his purpose in exposing himself was for his sexual gratification," the officer wrote.

Wolz asked the officer to lock up his bike on the front porch of his home on East 16th Street while he was taken to jail.

Wolz is in the Polk County Jail on a $1,000 bond for indecent exposure.