3:21pm UK, Monday November 21, 2005

A teenager has been charged with indecent exposure after he was caught trying to have sex with a female mannequin on display at an arts centre.

Security guards found Michael Plentyhorse, 18, sprawled with the dummy on the floor with his trousers and pants down.

180 shop dummy mannequin

A shop mannequin

Police spokesman Loren McManus said: "There was inappropriate activity between him and the mannequin.

"That's the only way I know how to put it."

Guards said they had noticed several times before that the dummy's clothes had been removed at the centre in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, US.

If convicted, Plentyhorse may be registered as a sex offender.

Hope Matchan, of the prosecutors' department, said: "People might say it's relatively harmless.

"But I certainly would want to know if this person was my neighbour."