Graduation Streaker Exposed to Jail Time

[ufcrusher]

TOWANDA, Pa. (AP) - A high school graduate was sentenced to up to two years in jail for streaking the graduation ceremony from which he had been excluded.

Russell Chmieleski, 18, pleaded guilty to first-degree indecent exposure and must serve six months to two years. Because the charge is a misdemeanor, he can stay in a county jail, rather than state prison.

The first-degree charge was made because children were in the crowd when Chmieleski ran across the football field where the Towanda High School graduation ceremony was held in June.

Police said Chmieleski was upset that school officials excluded him from the ceremony because he graduated in January.


Towanda is about 50 miles northwest of Scranton.



What a moron.......streaks the ceremony because he is excluded and ends up ruining the rest of his life. What a start.

[blueindian]

well, i doubt he's ruined teh rest of his life. i know lseveral very successful people who've served jail time for worse offeneses.

that said, i personally think jail time is a bit much for such an offense.

[Showtime]

His own damn fault. If he could have shown a little restraint...

-j

[bachviet]

It's stupid not letting him to participate in the graduation ceremony just because he graduated in January. :disa:

It's stupid of him to pull a stunt like this though.

[BrewMaster]

tall glasses of stupidity all around!

[welfareloser]

wow, that's incredibly harsh... you can beat someone up as a first offense and nothing happens to you, but let a little kid see your pecker at a distance... whoa, nelly, how could they ever recover from that?!?!?! must be a conservative small town... or maybe the kid was a problem with some other stuff in his past.

hopefully the sentence is reversed on appeal... maybe that's what the judge had in mind all along; he knows it'll get overturned on appeal, but wanted to scare the crap out of the kid.

anyone think a woman would have gotten a similar sentence? :rolleyes: he can do six months in jail as soon as janet jackson does.

[molecularfire]

anyone think a woman would have gotten a similar sentence? he can do six months in jail as soon as janet jackson does.
It's only called indecent exposure when you're unattractive. When you're hot, IMO the exposure is pretty decent. :P

Seriously though, this kid deserves what he gets. The difference between him and Janet was that she thought that she was doing something to entertain others. He did it with the intent of disrupting something that he was not allowed to be a part of. I hate this concept that if I can't be a part of something, I might as well ruin it for everybody else. He ruined the graduation for a lot of people and at the very least was extremely selfish and petty.

[LegendKiller]

The crime doesn't fit the punishment. Sure, the kid f'd up, but that doesn't mean he should be punished like that. You are really hurting his life over a victimless crime....stupid.


LK

[Grubbie]

Good move by him, stupid move by him to cover his face :)

Put a ski mace on, cut some holes out and streak then keep running. That way they don't know who did it.

[Lolita]

I hate this concept that if I can't be a part of something, I might as well ruin it for everybody else. He ruined the graduation for a lot of people and at the very least was extremely selfish and petty.

I don't know, I kinda wish something like that would've happened at any of my graduations. At least that way it would be a memorable event...graduations are a snoozefest.

[eSDee]

This is way to harsh of a sentence. I'm with Welfare the only way it could have been appropriate is if he was a problem kid and constantly doing this kind of thing. But there is no way that streaking should get you 6 months, let alone 2 years.

[molecularfire]

I don't know, I kinda wish something like that would've happened at any of my graduations. At least that way it would be a memorable event...graduations are a snoozefest.
Yeah, to be honest, I wouldn't have minded if it happened at my graduation either. It was completely boring and the only reason why I went was because my parents forced me to go. However, there are a lot of people for whom graduation means a LOT to. Feel kinda bad for them... kinda pathetic IMO but it does mean a lot to them...

[BrewMaster]

Good move by him, stupid move by him to cover his face :)

Put a ski mace on, cut some holes out and streak then keep running. That way they don't know who did it.

sounds like someone has some experience streaking...

[nickel]

sounds like someone has some experience streaking...
interesting....

[cheapchinese]

the case should be dropped
this is way to harsh of a punishment for a high school graduate

btw... does this fall under sex offender category?

[mcs328]

It would be entertaining at graduation I'm sure. Still I throw him in jail for maybe 1 - 4 weeks. I wouldn't want him to start a trend where people start streaking graduation ceremonies and then the people who attend have to sit for another 30 minutes to an already lengthy process just to arrest the guy or bring back some normalcy.

[DankNstickY]

that blows... any jail time is too much for a stunt like that. who cares if there were kids, i'm sure it wont traumatize them. people are just too sensitive

[gwilks98]

Doesn't a conviction of indecent exposure make him a sex offender?

That would suck.

[guiseppewv]

The crime doesn't fit the punishment. Sure, the kid f'd up, but that doesn't mean he should be punished like that.


:stupid:

He does deserved to be punished but, wow, I know a lot of people who have done much worse and have been given much less.

[welfareloser]

Doesn't a conviction of indecent exposure make him a sex offender?

That would suck.

there's a big difference between a perv targeting kids at a playground with the specific intent of exposing himself to a child for his own sexual arousal (which i believe is how they managed to slap this sentence on the kid) and simple nudity before a large crowd in a completely non-threatening manner.

forcing a child to give you sexual pleasure, even in a completely hands-off manner, is why the stiff sentence is available. but nudity is not necessarily sexual. we have lots of reasons to be nude that are not sexual. the guy wasn't whacking it on the field, pointing herman the one-eyed german at anyone, etc. it wasn't sexual or predatory. it was simply inappropriate, wrong, and yucky. you're not supposed to do six months to two years for something that minor.

at my sister's graduation, one guy walked across the podium, shook the hand that handed him the degree, then calmly turned his back to the audience, pulled a string, and neatly rolled up the back panel of his robe to expose his bare butt to the crowd. (it was really an ingenius set-up, right down to the fake pants-bottoms attached to the robes.) it was weird and uncomfortable, and there were plenty of small children in the audience (including my own toddler!) the mother of the 7-year-old girl sitting in front of me was particularly pissed, with good reason.

the kid got no punishment whatsoever. that ain't right either. he did something kinda yucky and shoulda gotten some community service and/or a fine... but not half a year of his life stolen.