Police: Naked man who drove convertible in Old Town Bluffton arrested, later flashes cops

A naked man spotted driving a convertible around Bluffton’s Dubois Park was arrested Thursday, according to a Bluffton Police Department news release.

A subsequent police report said he treated officers to a similar view while in a Bluffton Police holding cell.

Robert Lessig, 63, was arrested on multiple charges “after he was seen driving in Old Town while exposing himself to bystanders, according to the news release.

The call reporting a nude man driving a white Chrysler Sebring convertible came in to the department at around 4:30 p.m., according to a police report released Friday.

“An officer immediately responded to Dubois Park to find Lessig parked at the end of Lawrence Street next to (Dubois Park),” according to the release. “The officer also found beer bottles inside and outside the vehicle.”

Lessig reportedly told the officer that the bottles of Dos Equis beer were not his.

However, the bottles “were cold when officers picked them up,” the report said. Bottle caps of the same brand of beer were found on the floor boards of his car, the report said.

Bluffton Police Department Maj. Joseph Manning said in an email Friday that Lessig “was not naked at the time our officers encountered him.”

“He first admitted to officers that he removed his pants while driving because he dropped a lit cigarette on them,” Manning said. “He then retracted that statement and stated he was never naked in the vehicle.”

Despite that fact that Lessig ultimately “denied driving the area naked,” Manning said, “witnesses indicated they (saw) him in the vehicle naked.”

The Beaufort County Detention Center jail log lists a North Carolina address for Lessig, and the police report indicates his car has North Carolina tags. Manning said there is “no indication he has a local address.”

It is unclear what brought him to Bluffton.

Lessig was charged with indecent exposure, possession of an open alcohol container and littering.

After he was locked in a holding cell, “Lessig exposed himself” to jail personnel, according to the police report.

As of Friday afternoon, he was still being held at the detention center.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 11:18 AM with the headline "Police: Naked man who drove convertible in Old Town Bluffton arrested, later flashes cops."