Police seek flasher near St. Anthony's HS

Police on Wednesday said they are searching for a man they said exposed himself to two students from St. Anthony's High School in Melville on Monday.

Two female St. Anthony's students also reported an incident involving a man last Thursday, said the school principal, Brother Gary Cregan.

Another student from the Half Hollow Hills district in Dix Hills reported being followed in late October.

Suffolk County police could not immediately say if the incidents were related.

In the Thursday evening incident, two students said "a creepy guy" in a tan sport utility vehicle followed them as they walked along Wolf Hill Road. The students ran back to St. Anthony's and alerted officials, who called police, Cregan said.

Then, on Monday, a man exposed himself to two female students on New York Avenue near Wolf Hill Road at about 5 p.m. Suffolk County police said that man is between 5-foot-10 and 6 feet and said he was wearing a red T-shirt.

Cregan told students Tuesday they must stay on campus during school hours.

"It's disturbing," Cregan told Newsday on Wednesday. "I don't like when young people are put in a position where they have to fear that an adult may have a prurient interest in them."

In late October, officials in the Half Hollow Hills School District warned students that a man in a dark car had allegedly stalked a female student from Half Hollow Hills West High School.

In that incident, the student "became aware that there was a man in a car that was watching her as she walked home" in front of Paumanok Elementary School at about 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 28, according to an announcement posted on the district's website Oct. 31.

The vehicle was a blue or black Honda Civic with New York plates, officials said.

The alert said the girl "became uncomfortable" and ran to a neighbor's house. The driver, a man, sped up and opened the car door.

Officials said the girl called police.

District officials were not immediately available for comment.

Cregan told Newsday that St. Anthony's students have always been forbidden to leave school grounds but have disregarded the rule at times.

"Obviously, we love them here and, though students might not always understand, now they have a little better understanding of why we have rules, that there's a concrete reason," Cregan said.