Three Iowa State students told police they witnessed a man fondling himself in a Durham Center computer lab while viewing a pornographic Internet site on Sunday, Feb. 15.

One week later, it happened again, according to one of the students.

Those who witnessed the incident were Tom Severson, freshman in journalism and mass communications, Paul Scheibelhut, freshman in landscape architecture, and Doug Smidt, junior in management information systems. All three were in Durham 89 at 9:45 p.m. almost two weeks ago.

Severson said he was working on his e-mail when he noticed a man in front of him looking at a Web site titled “Amputees and Midgets.”

“You don’t see that very often,” he said. “There’s some strange stuff out there, but come on.”

Severson said he went back to his Vincent account, but a little later, the man caught his attention again.

“I looked up again, and he clicked on another picture, and both hands went under his desk and started moving back and forth rapidly,” he said.

Severson described the mystery man as wearing a green sweater and a baseball hat. He said the man looked like he was “probably a student.”

Scheibelhut, who had been in the lab about 15 minutes longer than Severson, said he realized what was happening when he got a note from Severson.

“Tom sent me a message that he thought the guy in front of him was masturbating,” said Scheibelhut, who also said the man “looked like a student.”

“From where I was sitting, and what I could see, it looked like he was,” Scheibelhut said.

Scheibelhut and Severson said they then left the lab.

“We just decided to leave it go, and go home, because I didn’t want to say anything and neither did Tom,” Scheibelhut said.

However, one witness didn’t let the incident pass without comment.

Captain Rob Bowers of the Department of Public Safety said his office received a call about the incident from Smidt at 11:38 that night.

“There was a person in Room 89 of the Durham Center that [Smidt] believed was masturbating,” Bowers said. “The person was looking at sex pictures on the computer, but [Smidt] did not actually see him masturbating.”

Bowers said Smidt described the suspect as a male, 6-feet tall, with red hair and a slender build.

One week later, Severson says, he experienced a disturbing case of d‚ja vu.

This time Severson e-mailed the Daily newsroom immediately. The e-mail message read “This is for the man who is doing the story about the guy who was masturbating in [Room 89] last Sunday.

“It’s about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday evening and he’s in here again!! He’s about 6 [foot]. (I saw him walk in), long side burns and a goatee. I know it’s him because he’s got the same ball cap on, and he’s gone straight to the porno pages and ‘pulling it’ as I write.”

Bowers said Severson called DPS at 9:45 p.m., five minutes after he witnessed the incident, and DPS personnel were immediately dispatched to the scene.

“This time, the suspect was still in the room,” Bowers said. “Officers talked to him, and at that time, he said that he was looking for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, but some pornographic sites had come up on the screen instead.”

Bowers said the man, identified as John Shields, a freshman in liberal arts and sciences, denied masturbating, though he admitted seeing things that might have been offensive to other people.

On Monday, Feb. 23, DPS cited Shields, of 2136 Lincoln Way, for indecent exposure. The citation regards the second incident only, Bowers said. Investigation into the first episode is still in progress, he said.

However, Bowers said, if Shields was involved in both occurrences, DPS probably will not charge him twice.