THOMASVILLE — A 47-year-old Thomasville man was charged with indecent exposure after a woman told police the suspect exposed himself on Smith Avenue in the Cherokee Lake Park area.

The woman said the man — wearing a red hat, plaid shirt and khaki pants — was standing across the street from the park exposing his genitals in the 9:43 a.m. Friday incident.

The woman told police the suspect then moved to the park with his pants still undone and appeared to chase a woman.

Roger Allen Lavender, 124 Woodrow St., was arrested in the park after the first woman identified the suspect at the Jail-Justice Center.

The woman told police she was positive Lavender was the man she saw.

“We always have officers in close proximity of the lake or walking around the lake,” Capt. Maurice Holmes, Thomasville Police Department Criminal Investigations Division commander, said.

An officer was in the park on the other side of the lake when the incident took place.

“We’re going to get these individuals every time they do it,” Holmes said.

The commander said the woman who was allegedly chased in the park did not report it.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820