Bucks man draws probation for lewd act in township park

NORRISTOWN >> A Bucks County man faces six months of court supervision after he admitted to acting in a lewd manner in his vehicle while at a Lower Gwynedd Township park.

Gregory Scott Russell, 54, of the first block of Reliance Court, Telford, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to six months of probation after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of open lewdness in connection with a 1:40 p.m. March 13, 2016, incident at Treweryn Farm Park in Lower Gwynedd.

The sentenced was imposed by Judge Gail A. Weilheimer who had also ordered that Russell undergo a psychosexual evaluation.

An investigation began when Lower Gwynedd police were dispatched to the park for a report of a man masturbating in a silver Pontiac vehicle, according to the criminal complaint. A witness told police he was walking his dog from a path toward the parking lot and noticed a man in the Pontiac engaged in the activity.

When police approached the vehicle, they observed a man, later identified as Russell, with his pants and underwear down around his ankles and his genitals exposed.

“The man said, ‘I guess you’re here for me,’” Lower Gwynedd Police Officer Timothy Evard wrote in the arrest affidavit.

Russell told police he had been on his way to work when he parked at the park on a side of the lot where people couldn’t see him.

“There were two vehicles parked approximately 20 feet from Russell’s vehicle and this park is heavily populated throughout the day,” Evard alleged. “Russell’s vehicle was parked close to the trailhead and in plain view of any pedestrians accessing the trail.”

Under state law, by pleading guilty to the open lewdness charge, Russell admitted that he unlawfully committed a lewd act which he knew was likely to be observed by others who would be affronted or alarmed.

“There were two vehicles parked approximately 20 feet from Russell’s vehicle and this park is heavily populated throughout the day.” — Timothy Evard