HSV man charged with alleged indecent exposure
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — A Hot Springs Village man and registered sex offender was arrested Tuesday on a misdemeanor warrant for allegedly exposing himself at a lake beach area in the village last month.
Richard Stephen Federick, 78, was taken into custody shortly before 11 a.m. on a charge of indecent exposure, punishable by up to one year in jail. He was later released on a $2,500 bond and is set to appear Sept. 25 in Garland County District Court.
According to court records, Federick pleaded no contest on Sept. 14, 2011, in Saline County to a felony count of sexual indecency with a child and was sentenced to six years in prison with four years suspended.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on July 21, shortly before 8:30 p.m., Hot Springs Village Police Officer Ryan Steed was dispatched to the Balboa Lake beach area regarding a man “acting inappropriately” around children on the beach and possibly taking photos of the children.
A female witness told Steed she was walking her dogs near the Balboa Spillway headed back toward the bridge when she noticed a “se- nior-age male” with a white dog in the wooded area on the walking trail close to the Magellan cart barn.
She said the man was standing “almost naked” with his chest exposed, shirt above his head, and shorts dropped to his ankles. She said the man was masturbating “while facing her and watching her.” The witness said she pulled out her phone to capture the event and the man immediately started dressing and left headed toward the bridge “at a fast pace.”
The witness said she was unable to get her phone unlocked before the incident was over. She noted the man had been standing on a public walking trail “where members of the public could see him.” She said she went to get her golf cart to look for the man “for the safety of other people on the beach” and to get a photo of his vehicle and license plate.
She saw a man sitting under some covered benches, but did not see the white dog. She noted the man’s clothing matched that of the man she had seen earlier. She stopped and asked two other women if they had seen a man with a white dog in the area and pointed to the man under the benches asking if they had seen him around.
As the women looked over at him, the man was allegedly “going through clothing items” belonging to the two women and their children, which were sitting on a picnic table the women had been occupying. The first witness noted it appeared the man was putting the clothing items “to his face.”
One woman asked, “What is he doing with our stuff?” and they all started walking toward the table, prompting the man to get up and start walking to his vehicle. The two women noted none of their clothing items appeared to be missing.
The two women reported that prior to that incident they had seen the same man “possibly taking pictures of two little girls that were in the water.”
The first witness noted the man got in a black Acura MDX and she told him she was going to take a photo of his license plate and show police a video she shot earlier of him on the trail. One of the other women was able to shoot a video of the man leaving the scene after they asked him to stay until police came.
The first witness said once she got close enough to see him by his vehicle she was able to identify him as Richard Federick “due to knowing him previously from golf outings” and reportedly confirmed he was the same one she had seen on the trail. She was able to get a photo of him and his vehicle, the affidavit said.
The license plate number of the man’s car was checked through the Arkansas Crime Information Computer and reportedly returned to Richard Federick and it also showed he was a Level 3 sex offender. Based on the information gathered and witness statements, a warrant for Federick’s arrest was issued later that day.