He should have just waved the flag instead

We have a nice quiet little corner in the northeastern part of Maryland called Cecil County.  Not much happens there. Travelers going up and down the I-95 corridor usually try to keep it below 75 mph, lest they run afoul of the state troopers, but otherwise, the county is quiet and peaceful.  

137 miles away lies the resort town of Ocean City, Maryland, which used to be like Mayberry with an ocean but is now like Atlantic Las Vegas.  It's a wild town in summer, and it was there that, last week, the Cecil County State's Attorney - prosecutor Edward Rollins III - was arrested after officers responded to a report of a nude man on a hotel balcony.

Booking photo

Someone called Ocean City police and reported seeing a naked man at the Clarion Hotel. There is some dispute as to whether that man was in his room flaunting the flesh, or out on the balcony airing out his unmentionables at the time people in the next hotel over got an eyeful, but they were sufficiently ranked out so as to call 911.

Rollins's opposite number, Worcester County State's Attorney Beau Oglesby, said,  "After consultation with the Ocean City Police Department, two counts of indecent exposure and two counts of disorderly conduct have been filed. After carefully considering which course of action would be the most appropriate given the need to handle this matter with transparency balanced against the desire to shield the identities of the victims, filing a criminal information achieved both of those goals."

In other words, the guy who does my job in another county came down and got nekkid and now we have to do something about it or there'll be a big stink about it. Rollins was held and charged with disorderly conduct and indecent exposure. He'll be back in court for arraignment on July 20.  Should there be a trial at which he is found guilty, indecent exposure is a misdemeanor with a possibility of three years in prison and/or a $1,000 fine, and disorderly conduct is a misdemeanor with a possibility of 60 days in prison and/or a $500 fine.

Rollins's wife issued a statement saying, "While my husband and I were vacationing in Ocean City last week, a stranger watched and photographed us through the window of our 10th floor hotel room. The person who took these actions was in a separate hotel some distance from ours. During the next 24 hours, while completely in the confines of our room, our intimate movements and activities were documented and shared publicly."

In happier days

This will be an interesting case, and I wouldn't want to be the judge to decide it.  Speaking of which, Rollins has now removed his name from further consideration for the open judgeship on the Cecil County Circuit Court.

I remember a guy in court on similar charges saying he was helping to move a dresser when he accidentally dropped his drawers. Stay tuned.