UPDATE: The defendant has accepted a plea offer, the details of which cannot be disclosed as part of the deal made the resolution non-public.

BAY CITY, MI -- A Bay City man with an apparent habit of exposing himself in public is facing a criminal charge after allegedly masturbating in a grocery store parking lot.

At 7:18 p.m. on Tuesday, April 25, police responded to the Save-A-Lot store at 904 Lafayette Ave. after the manager there called 911 to report a man masturbating in his car. A female customer told responding police she was parked in her van on her phone when she noticed a small black car parked next to her.

She saw a man seated inside and initially thought he was playing on his cellphone. She exited her van and glanced inside the smaller car, only to see the driver had his penis out and "was just going to town," court records show.

The woman went into the store and told employees. An employee went outside and saw the car drive off at a high rate of speed.

The customer was able to get the license plate number, which she provided to police. Officers determined the car was registered to 22-year-old Christopher A. Williams and went to his house.

They encountered him in his driveway. He told them he had been in the Save-A-Lot parking lot, but had only been playing on his phone. He said he might have reached down his shorts to scratch himself, but he denied ever having exposed himself, court records show.

Police arrested him. Williams was further interviewed and continued to deny any wrongdoing. However, officers learned that Bay County Sheriff's deputies on Jan. 11, 2016, had investigated a similar complaint involving him. In that incident, a woman said she was outside Miracle Ear, 3900 State St. in Bangor Township, when Williams drove up, honked at her, and exposed his penis through his fly. He stroked himself and smiled at her as he did so, she said.

In that incident, Williams also said he had merely scratched his genitals.

Police confronted Williams with this information and asked him if he had a problem controlling himself. Williams replied that he did.

Williams went on to say he had taken his penis about an inch out of his shorts while in his car at the grocery store lot. When police asked him why, he replied that he did not know.

"Williams stated that he has done this less than five times in the past but didn't remember where," police wrote in their reports, contained in court files. "Williams stated that this was not something he sets out to do but it just kind of happens."

Williams posted bond after he was arrested. On Monday, May 15, he voluntarily appeared in Bay County District Court for arraignment on one count of aggravated indecent exposure, a two-year high court misdemeanor.

Bay City attorney Jason P. Gower is representing Williams.

Williams is to appear for a preliminary examination at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 31.