Deputies: “Creeper from Moran Lagoon” arrested Friday

Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested the man they believe has been sexually harassing women at Moran Lagoon for a year.

Since October 2013, deputies have received numerous reports of an unidentified man exposing himself and performing lewd acts on a running trail near the lagoon and Lode Street. In one incident, the suspect followed a woman as she was jogging.

Deputies obtained video surveillance from the Lode Street county sanitation facility of the suspect fleeing the scene during the last reported incident, Sept. 12.

Images were released to the media, and deputies received several tips identifying Erik Finsland, 21, as the possible suspect.

Detectives contacted Finsand Friday and they say he confessed to all of the Moran Lagoon incidents as well as several unreported incidents on the north coast.

Finsand was arrested on suspicion of five counts of indecent exposure and lewd acts. He was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.

The sheriff’s office requests that anyone who has similar unreported cases to immediately call sheriff’s office dispatch at 471-1121.