If you live in Virginia and don't own a bathrobe, it might be a good time to get one.
A judge convicted a Virginia man of indecent exposure Friday after he was seen through a window strutting around naked inside his house.
Erick Williamson, 29, received only a suspended sentence and no fine for the misdemeanor, but he intends to appeal the decision, extending the debate about whether a person should be subject to arrest for indecent exposure for behavior inside the home.
Williamson, an underwater construction diver, lived in a Springfield home owned by the company he worked for at the time of the October incident. A roommate employed by the same company said in October that Williamson had been fired the Friday before the incident for missing work and was behaving oddly that Oct. 19 morning.
"We wake up to Erick running around the house with nothing but a work hardhat on, butt naked," the roommate said.
A woman and her 7-year-old son told police they walked by the house at about 8:30 a.m., heard a noise, looked over and saw a naked man standing in a doorway. As they continued past the house, they saw him again through a front window, police said.
Williamson said he was walking around upstairs and downstairs without clothes for several hours before "that act got old" and he put on pants. He said he did not intend to be seen but admitted, "If she's walking down the road and she said she saw me naked, it's a good possibility."
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A judge disagreed and found that Williamson's actions proved his intent to be seen naked. And that's two-thirds of indecent exposure in Virginia: the nakedness and the intent.
The third element is obscenity, according to Fairfax attorney Atchuthan Sriskandarajah. Probably the hardhat.
