A serial flasher who exposed himself to three women on a remote Perthshire woodland trail has been ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid community work.
Ionel Sara-Lates, 37, was found hiding in a bush with his trousers round his ankles on a popular dog walking route near Luncarty.
The spate of alarming sightings prompted a social media alert and a plea from Police Scotland for witnesses and dashcam footage.
The 37-year-old, from Spittalfield, denied he was the man responsible but he was found guilty of three counts of public indecency following a trial at Perth Sheriff Court.
Shocked strollers
A woman who encountered Sara-Lates on May 11 2021 told the trial she said had been walking along a footpath with her 18-month-old niece when she “noticed a gentlemen in a bush”.
“He was squatting down, then he stood up and then went back down.”
She could see he had no trousers or underwear on and she said he apologised when he stood up.
A second shocked woman said she saw Sara-Lates on the same footpath as she walked on her lunch hour later that day.
She said she saw Sara-Lates “standing there, with just a top on and nothing on beneath.”
Dog walkers
A dog walker spotted him in “long john-style bottoms” about an hour later.
She said: “It was strange because you would normally wear something else on top of those.”
A fourth witness said she saw him on the morning of May 15.
“I heard a rustling noise coming from a bush.
“I know we’ve got foxes in there, so I had a quick look. That’s when I saw the accused.
“He was crouching down and I could see his bare legs. I saw his face and then dashed away.”
Finding him guilty, Sheriff Paul Brown told Sara-Lates: “I believed the witnesses.”
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