Jury acquits man of open lewdness
A Washington County jury this week found an East Bethlehem Township man not guilty of two misdemeanors, but Judge Michael Lucas sent the defendant to jail for 30 to 90 days after jurors convicted him of disorderly conduct.
James John Czegan, 47, of Fredericktown, was acquitted Tuesday on charges of indecent exposure and open lewdness, but was ordered to the county jail after he was found guilty of committing the summary offense.
The charges stem from a dispute with a neighbor in September 2014, when Czegan was accused of cutting grass that sprayed on vehicles parked in a “paper alley.”
Before the jury was selected, Czegan, maintaining his innocence, rejected the prosecution’s offer of 12 months’ probation in exchange for a guilty plea to the lewdness charge.
The judge gave Czegan credit for days he already served, but he remained in the jail Thursday morning.
He also faces charges of threatening a man in the waiting room of the office of District Judge Joshua Kanalis and violating a “no contact” order with the other person in the confrontation that resulted in the 2014 disorderly conduct charge.