A registered sex offender on Tuesday admitted to repeatedly masturbating in public in Clackamas County in 2014 and 2015.



A trial for Michael Dick of Gresham was set to begin Tuesday morning in Clackamas County Circuit Court, where he was accused of 12 counts of public indecency for incidents between October 2014 and March 2015 in the Boring and Eagle Creek areas. Dick, 54, instead pleaded guilty to five of the charges.



He is scheduled to be sentenced April 29.



The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said it began receiving reports in November 2014 of a man in a black pickup driving by women walking along the street or working in their yards, the driver getting out of the truck fully nude, masturbating in front of the unsuspecting stranger, then driving away. Police believe he may have been wearing a wig.



In February 2015, investigators received 14 reports -- 11 in Clackamas County and three in Multnomah County -- of similar incidents involving a naked man in the black pickup, the sheriff's office said. After two other reported sightings a month later near Tickle Creek and Kelso Road, police determined Dick was the offender and served a search warrant at his Gresham home.



Dick was arrested after police found evidence linking him to the string of public incidents, the sheriff's office said, including that he owned a black 2004 Chevy S10 pickup.



Dick's criminal history includes two previous convictions in Multnomah County. He was convicted of public indecency in August 2008. In November 2009, he was sentenced to one year and four months in prison for first-degree burglary and attempted first-degree sex abuse. He broke into an elderly woman's home while naked the year before, police say, and tried to attacking her.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey