See the update with information about today's conviction at the bottom of this post.
ORIGINAL POST, OCT. 3, 2012 1 P.M.: According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, registered sex offender Robert Bruce Engel is the sort of cat who enjoys masturbating in public spaces for an audience of teenage girls. Today, the public gets to find out if he enjoys sweating in front of a jury of his peers.
Engel, 68, was arrested in May of 2011 at the Rancho Santa Margarita Library after two girls said Engel sat at the table across from them, put a newspaper across his lap, unzipped his pants, and began the five-knuckle shuffle. The girls told a librarian, but by then, Engel had come and gone. Cough.
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He might have gotten away with it too, were it not for that pesky compulsion.
Engel, authorities say, came back to the same library a week later. The librarian recognized him and called the Orange County Sheriff's Department. He was arrested and charged with one felony count of indecent exposure with prior convictions for indecent exposure in 1999 and 2002.
His trial begins today at 1:30 p.m. at the North Justice Center. If convicted, he faces a maximum of three years in state prison. They have libraries in jail right?
UPDATED OCT. 4, 4:30 P.M.: Easy come, easy go. Today, accused public masturbator Robert Bruce Engel, was found guilty of masturbating in a public library in front of two teenage girls.
“Engel, 68, of Mission Viejo, was found guilty in a court trial today, October 4, 2012, before the honorable Craig Griffin of one felony count of indecent exposure with prior convictions for indecent exposure in 1999 and 2002,” read the release from the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
Engel will go before the judge again for sentencing on Nov. 15. He faces a maximum three years in state prison. A winner of lifetime sex offender status, Engel is barred from entering any county parks or recreation areas. Hopefully he'll make the most of his yard privileges during his time in the hooskow.
