So, this is who they were talking about?
Nude jogger's jiggles end with a fine and an apology
By Lisa M. Krieger
Mercury News
Crime blog: Naked jogger case closed, thankfully
The notorious naked jogger has reached the end of the road.
Darryl Delacruz, 43, by all accounts an otherwise law-abiding Silicon Valley engineer, has paid his $95 fine and apologizes to anyone who may have been offended by his jaunts through Cupertino's Fremont Older Open Space Preserve.
``I'll go back, but I'll be wearing clothes,'' the San Jose man said. ``I don't want people to have the wrong impression.''
While it is not illegal to take off your clothes in a Midpeninsula Open Space Preserve District park, it is an infraction to do so in front of other people.
Rumors of a fleshy middle-aged man -- stripped to his running shoes and glasses -- started to circulate about a year ago. Sightings became increasingly common last summer and fall.
Equestrians from nearby Saratoga's Garrod Farms say he was generally polite, exchanging pleasantries and taking care not to startle their horses.
But they grew more disturbed when he began to engage in casual conversation. One woman confronted him, asking him to stop, yet he persisted. Others grew frightened for the welfare of young girls.
When winter arrived, temperatures dropped. But his nude workouts didn't.
So rangers with the Midpeninsula Open Space Preserve District and Santa Clara County Parks Department monitored his routines.
On Jan. 9, a balmy day, county rangers noticed his hybrid car parked on the side of Stevens Canyon Road. They alerted Midpen bicycle patrolman Jeff Smith.
Delacruz was sighted -- and cited. Smith charged him with violating District Ordinance 412, which says ``no person shall expose any part of the pubic or anal region or genitalia while on district lands in public view.''
Said Kerry Carlson, president of the Midpeninsula Rangers Peace Officers Association: ``We don't see it as appropriate behavior. A significant number of people feel uncomfortable with a nude person running around.''
Carlson said rangers don't bother people who seek full-body tans in seclusion. ``But there are plenty of other places where he can do nude jogging,'' he said.
The district's policy is liberal, Carlson said. For instance, toplessness is permitted for males and females. And Midpen rangers are happy to look the other way if you're au naturel in private. In contrast, most other parks don't let it all hang out, even if the only audience is wildlife.
Delacruz -- a married man with an expertise in high tech and a patent to his name -- said he didn't wish to be a spokesman for naturism.
But he bemoans that ``people are easily scared when they're not used to seeing a non-clothed person. They don't separate nakedness from sex. They get them confused.''
There's nothing criminal about an unclothed person, he said. ``But until society catches up, I don't want to take a chance.''
So why does he run naked?
``It is a liberating feeling,'' he said. ``It's about getting in touch with nature -- not meeting people.''
It isn't cold, once you set a pace, he said. Nor, he said, is it uncomfortable.
His greatest concern is that he will be wrongly accused of doing something obscene or menacing.
``It just takes one bad apple to ruin it for everyone,'' he said. ``That is not what nudism is about at all.''
Some local residents are relieved; others say it is much ado about nothing.
``What a weirdo,'' said Sue Bowdoin of Santa Clara, who's seen him while riding her horse.
San Jose's Lynnwood Brown can't understand all the fuss.
``There are real criminals on our streets, and this man is not one of them,'' she said. Rangers are convinced they have their man, because local hikers have reported no sightings since Jan. 9.
The rangers say Midpen trails are once again dominated by the flannel-and-jeans set, with backpacks and Birkenstocks.
``There are off-and-on reports of a nude cyclist in Palo Alto's Foothills Park,'' said ranger Carlson. ``But he fits a different description.''
posted by Pizie @ 10:54 AM
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