- April 26, 2024
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A Bunnell man was charged with lewd and lascivious exhibition after a woman said she saw him masturbating in Municipal Park on East Howe Street in Bunnell on Feb. 13.
The incident occurred at around 4 p.m., and suspect Jerry Steadman, 54, was arrested at the Joanne B. King Park half a mile away before 5 p.m.
A BPD officer also found a suspected hydrocodone pill in Steadman’s pocket, according to his arrest report. Since Steadman could not produce the prescription he said he had, he was also charged with possession.
A woman riding her bike by the park had called police when she saw a man sitting on a park bench watching his phone and masturbating in plain sight, according to the report. She told the BPD officer she had video of the man. It was later used to identify Steadman.
The officer also spoke with a child who said he'd seen the man watching a video and masturbating. The boy said he could not see the man’s genitals but could see the motion the man was making.
A Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputy and another BPD officer found Steadman at Joanne B. King Park near the bathrooms on the north side, with two 25-ounce beer cans in his possession, the report said.
Steadman at first told the officer he had been watching a mixed martial arts movie when a woman yelled at him, but he later admitted he'd been watching porn 30-45 minutes before the officers arrived.
When one deputy asked him how he was watching the video, he showed her a hand motion “commonly associated with the act of masturbating,” the report said.
Steadman is charged with lewd and lascivious exhibition in the presence of a victim under 16 and was verbally trespassed from both parks.
He was taken to the county jail, where he is being held on $27,500 bond.
