Man charged with wearing a clown mask in public

Send in the clowns.

Then the police.

A teen wearing a clown mask with bright red-orange hair was arrested Tuesday, charged with the rarely reported offense of wearing a mask or hood on a public road and the more common crime of obstructing or resisting an officer without violence.

About 1:10 p.m. Tuesday, a deputy spotted the clown-masked man, later identified as Matthew Lopez, and at least one other person walking south on 58th Street North, a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office report said.

They headed west through a wooded path near the rear of open offices. A deputy tailed them until a marked Temple Terrace police unit arrived. When the deputy tried to make contact, Lopez and another person ran, an arrest report states.

They were found near 58th Street and 122nd Avenue East.

It’s not clear why Lopez, who turned 19 Wednesday, was wearing a mask, sheriff’s spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. Lopez was charged with two misdemeanors and has been released on $750 bail.

He couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

A juvenile, who has not been named, also was charged with a misdemeanor.

This is not the first time a person has been charged with wearing a mask in public, although it’s “pretty uncommon,” Carter said.

The charge is based on a 1951 law designed to combat the Ku Klux Klan, part of the section of Florida statutes dealing with criminal anarchy and treason.

In October 2008, Tampa police arrested Walsh Ian Nichols after he was spotted wearing a Batman mask in Ybor City.

A judge dismissed the charges against the Caped Crusader and ordered police to return Nichols’ custom-made cowl.

Josh Poltilove — Tampa Bay Online