Boe the scarf dancer remained jailed this week, arrested at Seattle’s Northwest Folklife Festival two weeks ago after a group of juveniles at the Seattle Center event told police the 70-year-old had groped their friend as he danced and handed out paintings.
Capitol Hill resident Calvin Creech, also known as Boe Oddisey, has been charged with misdemeanor assault with sexual motivation and pleaded not guilty on May 29th to the charge. An order for his release was filed that day pending payment of $5,000 bail. According to facility records, Oddisey remains incarcerated in the King County Jail.
According to the police report on the Saturday, May 26th incident, officers near the Seattle Children’s Theater were waved down by a group of juveniles around 4:30 PM during the festival.
The group, all under the age of 18 according to police, told police of “a guy down there groping.” “The guy touched my friend’s balls,” one kid reported. Police say the victim was crying and seemed upset and that the group had video showing Oddisey’s hand moving to grope the victim but not the actual act.
Police asked the victim if we would prefer to speak privately and pulled him aside. According to the report, the friends had seen Oddisey dancing at festivals before and that at Folklife, the dancer had a “free hugs” sign. The victim told police his friends asked for hugs and each embraced Oddisey and were also given a free painting. The victim said it was during his hug that Oddisey groped him.
Police say another juvenile in the group told them Oddisey had asked, “Would you like a grope too?”
After the minors identified Oddisey to police, he was taken into custody, an arrest captured on video and posted to Reddit.
Police say Oddisey (spelled Odysiey throughout the report) was despondent after his arrest:
The dancer’s props were seized as evidence “as they are both integral to his physical description and how he presents himself to crowds at festivals” — “an improvised booth” constructed from a “modified walker,” “numerous paintings at various stages of composition,” and “photographs of other artwork” signed by Oddisey.
Police also took into evidence one of the paintings given to the victim in the alleged groping:
In 2013, CHS spoke with Oddisey about his life as a peculiar Seattle icon, his art, and the emotional and mental issues he says he has struggled with.
The Capitol Hill resident remains behind bars as of Wednesday morning, according to jail records.
UPDATE 6/22/2018: Oddisey remains jailed but now faces more serious charges for what prosecutors say was illegal contact with two teen boys. King County Prosecutors have charged the 70-year-old with two counts of communication with a minor for immoral purposes:
Prosecutors note that Oddisey has no known criminal history.
He remains jailed on an increased $10,000 bail and has been ordered to have no contact with minors.
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Oh wow. That’s really sad to hear.
I’m glad the kids went to the cops and the cops took it seriously. And, I’ve seen this guy around for so long and he seems so quirky and charming. It never occurred to me that he would grope someone, much less a kid. What sad news.
Oh this is heartbreaking. Scarf Man is a Seattle institution. He has aged a great deal recently and this deterioration may have played a role in this terrible behavior. Poor kids. Good for them for advocating for themselves.
That guy has ALWAYS creeped me out. The crazy eyes and strained perma-grin apparently made people think he was an urban “wild man” free from the confines of capitalism, gender and responsibility. My spidey sense always indicated otherwise.
More proof that the no-boundaries / 100% tolerance for all approach may not be the smartest way to go.
“More proof that the no-boundaries / 100% tolerance for all approach may not be the smartest way to go.”
So…you’re suggesting that he should have been arrested (or otherwise punished) earlier, before anyone had accused him of a crime of any kind? Yeah, that seems fair.
Agreed. However I regret not calling the police when exposed himself in front of me and my kids. I thought he was crazy but these arrest and the Stranger paint another picture. He is a pervert.
It’s a crime to expose your genitals to kids in public areas. Yes, he should have been arrested previously, and he was. He was also banned from Seattle Center for doing that.
Self expression is one thing – but this guy took it way past what most people would consider as basic, common sense limits.
As an able-bodied VERY active man, it’s amazing he could get away with claiming disabilities to get free food, shelter, etc. The sense of entitlement he had marching around the neighborhood, treating people poorly is what really bugs me. Naked old dudes don’t offend me in any way.
I call BS. Boe is a tiny, fragile old man. And these kids willingly walked up to him to engage in physical touch. Even if he did accidentally grope me, my response would have been to brush it off and move on. It’s not like this guy actually wields any power over anyone. This isn’t #metoo, this is entrapment of an elderly, very-low income man.
No. Being tiny or old doesn’t make it OK. This is not entrapment. There are no excuses. The kid may have consented to a hug but did not consent to being groped. It’s easy to say that you (an adult, I presume) would “brush it off and move on”. Kids don’t think, “Hmm, well, he’s old and ‘very-low income,’ so it’s alright!” That’s the kind of BS that protects people from justice to begin with.
“Entrapment” would only be if the kids were employed by the SPD to entice Boe to grope them, and that did not happen.
Wow. That excuse could have kept dozens of old Catholic Priest molestors in business for many more years.
What’s your next argument gonna be – that those kids shouldn’t have been wearing shorts when they were around a disgusting pervert?
Nothing like blaming the victims for a predator’s perversions.
Over the last 10 years Boe hit on me multiple times including inviting me back to his apartment. Older gay men have zero business being sexual or flirtatious with young men who are not inviting the advances, and obviously especially minors. Obviously the same goes for straight older men hitting on young women not inviting the advance. In Cap Hill there are multiple older gay men who like hitting on young men, and making sexual comments in front of young men they know are straight, but they make the sexual comments anyway because they’re perverts. It gets so old.
Even young men who come up to them wanting hugs?
So much subtle homophobia in your post. Maybe if older gay men were such a problem you shouldn’t have moved to Capitol Hill.
You are seeing something that isn’t there, likely due to confirmation bias. As an analogy, if that post from 206to360 was instead coming from a young woman, who was sick and tired of older hetero men advancing unwanted, and leering constantly, would you accuse her of heterophobia? I think not. The truth is, most men are dogs (full disclosure: I am a male), and I don’t doubt for a second that older gay men can be just as bad as older straight men. Being gay doesn’t make you holy.
“wanting hugs?” Minors going up to an old hippie at folklife with a “free hugs” sign are not inviting being groped.
Look, I’m a big Boe fan, but this was unacceptable (and unfortunately, unsurprising, based on my interactions with him and friend over the past couple of years) behavior. Shit, I’m a woman and Boe and Co. have said some really offensive things to me as I pass them on the street and say hello. I agree that I think this is a deterioration issue. One can feel sympathy for Boe and also you know, not be down with groping teens.
Wow, the SPD could arrest hundreds of people at the Solstice parade every year then, both the naked bicyclists and their ilk, and the parents who take their children there for the parade.
I fear the New Seattle.
I feel like the Solstice Parade was ruined when it became a big nudist thing. There used to be a small group who would streak through quickly on bikes. Now the emphasis is all on a large group of exhibitionists surrounded by massive unpleasant crowds of exhibitionist-watchers, including a high percentage of pervs with expensive cameras.
Everyone is a “pervert” Some people just cant control it He might just be old and desperate for touch and love but …
Whats the debate here? If he touched underage boy nuts on purpose then he needs to be punished.
Its odd Ive lived ON Capitol hill a long time and have noticed him and never once did I see his dick flopping around or poking out of his skirt just thought he was an odd duck
I’d like to see proof on this one. This person is an easy target. I raised my child around him and not one hint of that behavior. My heart goes out to them, their family and their friends, of which they have many.
Is photographic evidence enough proof for ya? I have a 35mm photo of Scarfman squeezing my teenage cousin’s breast by surprise when she went to get a free hug from him in the early 00’s. Before the photo of Scarfman and my cousin was taken, Scarfman was shamelessly hitting on my cousin’s very uninterested boyfriend who snapped the photo.
I’ve volunteered at Seattle parties and festivals for years and I always get a frosty response from Scarfman, probably because he knows I’m a longshoreman’s daughter who will snap a dick in half if I see it acting up near folks I’m looking after. People in this town have been making too many excuses for too long for this guy, and undermining his victims, all because of SCARVES.
I;ve definitely seen that dude with his dong out on multiple occasions