AHOSKIE – A fad that was popular over 45 years ago was brought back to life here Tuesday afternoon on the streets of Ahoskie and led to the arrest of a local man.

Jason Nash, 29, of Liverman Mill Road was arrested after being caught running down Main Street completely naked. That incident tore a page out of the history book from 1973-74 when “streaking” – running naked through a public place – was a major fad, mostly on college/university campuses. There have been other streaking incidents since that time with the majority occurring at sporting events.

However, Nash was neither on a college campus nor at an athletic stadium on Tuesday afternoon. Rather, according to Ahoskie Police, he chose to perform the illegal act in broad daylight on Main Street.

“From what we learned after Mr. Nash’s arrest, it appears he was inside Mug Shotz (a Main Street café), fully clothed, at which time he asked to kiss one of the female employees there,” Ahoskie Police Chief Troy Fitzhugh said. “After she turned him down, Mr. Nash exited the establishment.”

From there, Fitzhugh said, Nash went across Main Street and entered an unoccupied building.

“We had an officer responding to that location – the old law office/bank adjacent to the Gallery (Theatre) – due to a report of a breaking-and-entering in progress,” Fitzhugh reported. “Upon my officer arriving near that area, he witnessed a male, later identified as Mr. Nash, exiting the building completely nude. He had apparently disrobed while inside the building. Once the subject saw my officer drawing closer, he took off running on the sidewalk towards the railroad crossing on Main Street.”

APD Officer Tyler Burden was able to overtake Nash and placed him under arrest at that point.

Burden charged Nash with breaking-and-entering, felony indecent exposure, stalking, and resist/delay/obstruct (a law enforcement officer).

Fitzhugh said the indecent exposure charge was deemed at the felony level due to the fact that one of the startled bystanders to witness the event was a minor child.

Nash was jailed under a $5,000 bond and was scheduled to make his initial court appearance in Winton on March 1.