Okemos, E.L. coffee house serial flasher sentenced

LANSING – A Lansing man with a history of exposing himself going back decades has avoided a lengthy prison sentence after volunteering to take medication that a psychiatrist said will prevent the behavior.

At a hearing Monday, Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced David Lee Arnold to one year in jail and five years of probation. Aquilina also ordered Arnold to comply with treatment and wear a GPS tether once he is released from the county jail. He was given credit for more than eight months already served.

Arnold, 57, who is married, admitted exposing his genitals at three different coffee shops in Meridian Township and East Lansing in 2013 and earlier this year. In August, he pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent exposure by a sexually delinquent person.

Because of his extensive criminal history, which prosecutors said includes indecent exposure offenses dating back 30 years, he faced up to life in prison. Corrections officials recommended he serve a minimum of 10 years.

But Aquilina said simply housing him in prison -- for an offense that did not involve physically assaulting another person -- would not solve the problem.

Once he was released, she said, he would likely return to the same behavior.

Arnold's attorney, Craig Davis, had enlisted the help of a Baltimore, Md.-based psychiatrist who specializes in treating psycho-sexual disorders, including exhibitionism, with a drug regimen.

At an earlier court hearing, Dr. Fred Berlin testified that Arnold is mentally ill and his behavior could be controlled through medication.

"Dr. Berlin said it best," Davis told Aquilina Monday, "You can't punish away this crime."

Aquilina said she believed the drug Berlin prescribed, DepoLupron, was not experimental "and that it has proved to be useful and is medically accepted."

"It will readjust your body to not have this desire for exhibitionism (and) will stop that craving, as long as you voluntarily take it," she said.

If Arnold re-offends or he discontinues the treatment while on probation, she said, "a prison will await you."

The first incident Arnold admitted to — at the Biggby Coffee on East Lake Lansing Road in Meridian Township — happened in February 2013 while he was on parole for another indecent exposure conviction in Kent County.

The second happened a month later at an East Lansing Biggby, after Arnold had been charged in the earlier case and was free on bond.

The third incident, in March of this year, happened at the Starbucks on Meridian Crossing Drive in Okemos.

He was again free on bond.

In each, Arnold walked into the coffee shop and exposed his genitals.

Arnold, wearing a faded black-and-white jail uniform, read a statement in court, saying he was ashamed and disappointed in himself. He apologized to the women he victimized.

"I am saddened, and I deeply regret what I did to you and the hurt I caused," he said. "I am sorry I devalued you as a human."