Man gets 25 days for public indecency

Thomas Fourdyce was sentenced June 14 to a maximum of 25 days behind bars for a conviction on two counts of public indecency.

A jury convicted Fourdyce, 57, of Wellington of the misdemeanors June 6.

Fourdyce, who will serve his sentence in the Lorain County Jail, did not apologize to his victims as he pleaded for leniency from Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher R. Rothgery citing the hardship on his family throughout the case.

“In the past 16 months, sir, we’ve definitely been mentally and financially challenged to the most extreme,” he told Rothgery. “I lost my job because of what the media has put into the paper; my career, my name.

“I’ve paid up to $36,000 already between lost wages, bonds and attorneys. I feel that we paid a very heavy price as it is, and I ask for the court to be lenient with all due respect, sir.”

Fourdyce initially was charged with two counts of abduction, two counts of menacing by stalking and the two public indecency charges. Jurors acquitted him of the abduction and menacing charges.

Matthew Williams, Fourdyce’s attorney, said he believed the case was overcharged.

Williams highlighted the hardships his client has faced since the case began nearly two years ago.

Lorain County Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Malanowski disagreed with Williams.

Malanowski said she believed Fourdyce was guilty of the serious charges.

“(The victims) were traumatized by that,” she said.

According to prosecutors, Fourdyce repeatedly exposed himself to the attendants in a series of incidents at Cherry Express Mart in Wellington in 2015 and 2016.

As part of the sentence, Fourdyce is required to pay $400 in fines. An additional five days and $100 in fines were suspended on the condition of one year of good behavior.

This was the second attempt at prosecuting Fourdyce after an initial trial in March was thrown out when a juror, Frederick Flesch, brought a newspaper with a story on the case into jury deliberations.

Flesch is scheduled to be sentenced on a direct contempt charge June 28.

ERIC BONZAR — THE MORNING JOURNAL Thomas Fourdyce, 57, of Wellington, is handcuffed by Lorain County Sheriff’s Sgt. Josh Croston after receiving a sentence of 25 days in the Lorain County Jail on June 14. On June 6, a jury found Fourdyce guilty of two counts of public indecency for his...