The Daily Collegian

Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: News

Editor's note: This story originally
appeared in the April 2, edition of the Daily Collegian.


A University of Massachusetts football player is now facing charges of open and gross lewdness following an incident reported near Smith College last Tuesday.

Northampton police arrested Belchertown resident and UMass junior sociology major Spencer Sinclair Ridenhour, 22, after a female jogger reported seeing a man staring at her and masturbating from a parked car on Elm Street.

According to police, the woman claimed she approached the man because she thought he needed assistance, and that he exposed himself before driving away.

Ridenhour, of White Plains, NY, is also facing charges stemming from another incident earlier the same day. In the first, a Smith student reported being assaulted by an unidentified male who allegedly grabbed her buttocks in the quadrangle off of Paradise Street, according to the Smith College Public Safety Department. This was reported last Tuesday at roughly 8:30 p.m., about 30 minutes before the Elm Street incident.

UMass police apprehended Ridenhour Thursday afternoon following information given in a report from another young woman who claimed she saw a male driver masturbate while driving by her at a PVTA bus stop on Orchard Hill Drive.

"She got a very good description of him, and the model and make of the car," UMass Deputy Police Chief Patrick Archbald told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. "He was masturbating while driving. I imagine he was driving very slowly."

Ridenhour is currently facing charges of open and gross lewdness from Northampton police, with Smith College and UMass police also intending to press felony charges. Ridenhour is likely to face indecent assault and battery charges brought by the Smith College Public Safety Department in connection with the quadrangle incident reported Tuesday night, for which he will be arraigned next week.

Northampton detective Alan Borowski and UMass police willingly interviewed Ridenhour after he was contacted at his Belchertown home. Ridenhour confessed to the Elm Street and Orchard Hill Drive incidents, according to a statement of facts on his court report.

A defensive back that just last year transferred from Penn State, Ridenhour was suspended indefinitely from the football team, according to a statement from UMass Athletic Department spokesperson Jason Yellin, who also stated that the department would have no further comment on the issue.

Ed Blaguszewski, spokesperson for the University, stated that actions would be taken according to the student code of conduct once the University was formally made aware of Ridenhour's arrest.

Frank Vitale can be reached at fvitale@student.umass.edu.

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