BLAINE - A 24-year-old man suspected of exposing himself to eight women in Blaine was booked into jail late Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Daniel Sergeevich Kovalenko was arrested at his home in the 600 block of D Street following an investigation that started in late November, when the first crime was reported in the 200 block of Martin Street.

Many of the women saw the suspect masturbating in the driver's seat of a white car. Kovalenko - police later discovered - sometimes drives a white Toyota Camry.

In the latest incident at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, Kovalenko walked up to a coffee stand on Bell Road and started fondling himself in front of a barista, said Blaine police spokeswoman Lisa Moeller. The suspect then ran off.

Often the man wore a sweatshirt and sat in the car, so getting a clear description of him proved difficult. But police gathered up security footage and, after a number of interviews with the victims, officers got a warrant to arrest Kovalenko.

A background check on Kovalenko turned up one prior conviction for exposing himself near Western Washington University's campus, Moeller said. Under state law, the eight new counts of indecent exposure may amount to class C felonies.

MAP OF REPORTED CRIMES

View Recent reports of indecent exposure in Blaine in a larger map

Reach Caleb Hutton at 360-715-2276 or caleb.hutton@bellinghamherald.com. Read his dispatcher blog at blogs.bellinghamherald.com/dispatcher or follow him on Twitter at @bhamcrime.