The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Man guilty of public indecency
Jurors find him not guilty of more serious counts
A Lorain County Common Pleas Court jury of six men and six women found Thomas Fourdyce not guilty June 6 of abduction and menacing stemming from incidents in 2015 at a Wellington gasoline station.
Fourdyce, 57, of Wellington, was found not guilty of two counts of abduction and two counts of menacing by stalking.
Jurors, however, found him guilty of two misdemeanor counts of public indecency.
The two victims, who were gas station attendants at Cherry Express Mart, 704 N. Main St., sobbed on the benches of Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher R. Rothgery’s courtroom as the not guilty verdicts were read.
The jury deliberated about three hours and 20
minutes before returning the verdict.
Rothgery will sentence Fourdyce on June 14.
According to prosecutors, Fourdyce repeatedly exposed himself to the attendants in a series of incidents at Cherry Express Mart.
This was the prosecution’s second attempt at convicting Fourdyce. In
March, a trial was halted when juror Frederick Flesch brought a copy of a newspaper with an article on the case into the deliberation room and attempted to discuss it with fellow jurors.
According to court records, Flesch is scheduled to be sentenced on direct contempt charges June 28 after receiving mental health treatment.