West Bend, Wisconsin – A chance encounter at a Hartford stoplight led police to arrest a man they say left photographs of his genitalia on cars driven by women throughout Washington County.

Surveillance tapes from the shopping centers where the photos were placed were critical in solving the case.

Those tapes showed that the man involved drove a battered pickup with a spare tire stowed in the truck’s bed, said Lt. Tom Horvath of the Hartford police.

So many photos were being placed on cars that police tried a sting operation using a female police officer. The plan worked “indirectly,” Horvath said.

In early September, Horvath and another officer pulled up to a stoplight on their way to a stakeout.

While the unmarked car was stopped, a man in a battered pickup pulled up next to it. “We sort of looked at each other and said, ‘There’s our guy,’ ” Horvath said.

Armed with a license plate number and an address, Horvath said investigators eventually found that background details in the photos matched details in the man’s backyard.

Horvath said investigators recently “asked him to come down to the police department and talk to us, and he was very forthcoming.”

Jeffrey J. Hein, 40, is now charged with 15 counts of lewd and lascivious behavior and 15 counts of disorderly conduct.

Prosecutors filed charges Thursday and again Friday.

Police obtained a search warrant for Hein’s residence on Wednesday.

During the search they found similar photos, according to the criminal complaints detailing the charges against him.

A criminal complaint filed Friday in Washington County Circuit Court details eight incidents in Hartford, beginning in January and continuing up until Monday.

In one incident, a surveillance tape showed that Hein was accompanied by a child, possibly one of his own children, according to Horvath.

Hein told investigators he did not pick victims based on their age or any physical characteristic but that he picked victims whom he “thought would find it funny,” according to the complaint.

In a January incident, the picture left by Hein showed his genitalia decorated with a “Christmas hat,” according to the complaint.

Richard Barrett, of Hartford, said his wife, Amanda, 22, “was in shock” after she found one of the Polaroid photos on the driver’s side window of her vehicle when she was shopping at a Sentry store in early September.

Even more chilling, he said, was a Sentry surveillance tape that showed that her car was followed into the parking lot from Highway 60.

“That’s real creepy. We were kind of freaked out about it,” Barrett said.

“My initial reaction was anger, obviously. As that receded in the following days, it was replaced by fear for my wife and my family and the other women,” Barrett said.

Officials say more charges may be filed.

Also on Friday, Hein’s wife, Kristin Ann Stinson-Hein, filed for divorce in Washington County Circuit Court.

Hein is being held in Washington County Jail in lieu of $3,000 bail.