ELKHART — A 51-year-old Mishawaka man was arrested over the weekend after an off-duty police officer said he saw him walking around a crowded Rice Cemetery in the buff.

The officer, Elkhart Patrolman Daniel Milanese, was running inside the cemetery about 1 p.m. Sunday when he said he saw the man standing next to a pickup truck naked.

When the suspect saw the officer, he got back into his truck and drove away, police said. Milanese was able to get the man’s license plate as he drove away. The officer obtained the man’s name and photo from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles and was eventually able to call him and ask him to come to the police station for an interview.

At the station, the suspect told the officer he went to the cemetery to check on his in-laws’ grave. He said he had been golfing in Middlebury all day, and after getting back in the truck from visiting the grave, he took off his underwear because they were wet.

While driving in the cemetery, the suspect said he saw some flowers he wanted to look at. Because he did not have his glasses on, he got out of his truck — naked — to get a closer look, he told police.

The man told police he had never done anything like this in his life. He does not have a criminal history, police said.

The officer arrested the man for public nudity and took him to jail with a $1,500 bond. The Tribune generally does not name suspects until they have been formally charged.