Emily Miller | Reporter
Published [October 27, 2015] | Legacy

A male student has messaged several women through Facebook, asking for their unwashed underwear.

One of the women, Claire Pinquet, had advertised a textbook on LU Marketplace, a user-run Facebook page for buying and selling items.

“Hey, I saw your post on LU Marketplace,” the student messaged Pinquet. “I know your post doesn’t relate to me, but I am trying to find someone who is interested in a Victoria Secret $50 gift card.”

Pinquet said she was intrigued, so she asked: “What’s the prank?”

The student said he wanted to exchange the card for some of her underwear.

Pinquet, who is French but lives in Switzerland, said she initially didn’t understand what the student was proposing, but when she did, she felt uneasy.

“A guy that you don’t know, for no reason gives you a gift card for underwear; it’s a bit weird, right?” said Pinquet.

Pinquet said the student then told her “I’ve always had a fetish” for women’s panties.

He said he wanted two pairs of unwashed undies for the gift card. Pinquet turned him down.

“I am sorry, but I love my underwear,”she said in her message back.

An authority with the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said the student could potentially be charged with harassment.

At least four other women received similar requests.

Isabelle Lekhal, another French student who posted some items for sale over fall break, said he asked for her underwear too.

“I was surprised because he told me he wasn’t interested in what I was selling,” she said. “I have never seen him before.”

Lekhal said the student told her his request wasn’t “sex related,” and that she didn’t have to worry, but she wanted no part of it.

“I stopped answering him, but every day he came back asking if I wanted to make easy money,” she said. “I blocked him after that.”

Student Sabine Neveu also got a similar message, and she thought it was some kind of joke.

“I don’t know him at all so I stopped replying,” she said. “I am not really scared, but I’m sure some girls would fall into his trap because they just think about the $50 gift card.”

LU Security officers said they had been unaware of the incidents before being contacted Thursday by a Legacy reporter, but they have since opened an investigation.

They urged other students who have been solicited for their underwear to call the security office at 636-949-4911.

“If they are creeped out by it, then that is a problem,” said security officer Wade O’Heron.

Pinquet said she was especially upset by the incident because LU Marketplace should be a safe place for students to interact, not a place for harassment.

She said as she continued to ignore the student, he asked her one last question: “Do you have any socks?”