A Judge showed leniency for a man arrested earlier this summer for indecent exposure after he was caught "pleasuring himself" in a hotel hallway.
Back in August, we reported on a bizarre incident that happened at a hotel on 112th Street.
Police received a call at around 3:00 a.m. that a man was laying out on a hallway bench, completely naked, and "pleasuring himself." Obviously, none of the hotel staff or guests wanted to deal with him, so they called the police and monitored the bizarre behavior from the hotel's security camera.
When police finally arrived on scene, they found the man was still lying on the bench, still naked, and "still pleasuring himself." Officers arrested the man -- identified as 32-year-old William Griffin, from North Potomac, Maryland -- on the spot and charged him with indecent exposure.
Griffin finally got his day in court this month, where he decided to plead guilty to indecent exposure. Really hard to enter a not-guilty plea when the whole escapade was captured and recorded on the hotel's security feed.
Instead of serving time in jail, the judge handed down a sentence of one year of probation. While it is unclear what the terms of his probation are, it's pretty safe to say that if he's caught naked in public next year, he'll be going away for a long time.
It is very interesting watching the ridiculous cases we covered over the summer finally get resolved. Some of these indecent exposure cases are shown leniency while others are fully prosecuted. There doesn't appear to really be any rhyme or reason to how they are handled.
Obviously, getting drunk and doing something this stupid shouldn't ruin someone's life, but it is important that these sorts of crimes are rigorously prosecuted to deter future tourists from doing the same.
Ocean City is straddling the fence, trying to appeal to the family crowd while also advertising itself as a destination for 20-somethings looking to party. The township still hasn't figure out how to strike a healthy balance and until they do, we're likely going to keep seeing ridiculous cases like these.
[LINK TO GUN SENTENCING ARTICLE]