MASON CITY — A Texas man accused of masturbating in front of a woman at a Mason City store in October had already been arrested after an alleged encounter inside Hobby Lobby, where police say he approached a woman and began speaking while performing a sex act.
Mason City Police Chief Mike McKelvey provided details of the earlier allegation against Jabrone Donte Whitner, 35, who remains in the Cerro Gordo County Jail as of October 20 following his October arrest.
Woman alerted staff at Hobby Lobby
McKelvey said an adult woman reported the Hobby Lobby incident on September 3, 2026, at 1:15 p.m. The store is located at 2566 Fourth Street Southwest.
The woman told police an unknown man approached her inside the store and asked her a question. As he began speaking, she noticed he was actively masturbating, according to McKelvey.
Staff were notified and police were called. But the man had left before officers arrived.
Officers were unable to locate him. Police subsequently requested an arrest warrant charging Whitner with indecent exposure.
Nabbed near the public library
Mason City police filed a criminal complaint September 14. A judge approved the arrest warrant September 15, setting a $1,000 cash-only bond.
The next day, around 5:30 p.m., officers spotted Whitner near the Mason City Public Library.
He was arrested on the warrant without incident and taken to jail, McKelvey said.
Whitner (pictured at top) appeared before a judge September 17 and was held for bond. Court records show cash bond was posted September 28.
His arraignment was initially scheduled for October 13. An order filed that day continued the hearing to October 27 at 1:15 p.m.
The earlier court information cited by NIT listed September 2 as the alleged offense date. McKelvey’s account identifies September 3 as the date the woman reported the incident.
Another allegation after bond was posted
Sixteen days after cash bond was posted in the earlier case, Whitner was arrested again following a separate complaint at another Mason City business.
As NIT previously reported, the October 14 arrest followed an alleged sex act inside a store in the 2000 block of Fourth Street Southwest. A woman called police after the man left, and officers found Whitner nearby in the KFC parking lot.
Whitner gives a Texas address, although McKelvey said he had been staying in Mason City for the past couple of months.
Both cases involve serious misdemeanor indecent exposure charges. The September case lists Iowa Code section 709.9(1); the October case lists section 709.9(2)(a).
Whitner is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.