Butler Man Accused of Exposing Himself to Wedding Party Strikes Deal With DA

A Butler County man accused of masturbating in a fourth-floor hotel room overlooking an outdoor wedding struck a deal with the Washington County District Attorney's office Tuesday and is expected to plead guilty to indecent exposure Sept. 2.

"We worked out a deal," attorney Gary Gerson said of his client, Randy Wayne Northcutt. "It's basically taken care of."

While he declined to comment further, District Judge Jay Weller confirmed that Northcutt waived his right to a preliminary hearing pending a hearing before Judge Phillippe Melograne Sept. 2.

He said Northcutt and the district attorney's office agreed to a tentative plea bargain, and that the defendant also agreed to a 12-month Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, drug and alcohol treatment and a mental health evaluation — as well as any other course of treatment the court recommends.

North Strabane police had charged Northcutt, 44, June 25 after they said he had been warned once by the manager of the Doubletree Hotel on Racetrack Road that guests at the poolside wedding had complained "that a white male was exposing his genitals from a window on the fourth floor."

According to the complaint, the manager told Northcutt that "there were young children outside and that he needs (to) close the curtain for the window and to stop exposing his genitals, or that he would call the police."

A few minutes later, the manager received another complaint and summoned police just before 5 p.m. June 25, the report indicated.

Court records indicate a witness told police that "he observed that the male was masturbating at times during the 10 minutes."

Northcutt was arraigned Saturday by District Justice David Mark and placed in Washington County Jail on $5,000 bond, but was released on bail two days later.

The hotel manager, Pete Bevilacqua, said outside the courtroom on Tuesday that there were more than 200 guests at the wedding, which included more than 20 children under the age of 12.

"It was a rough thing to be handled," he said, adding that in 21 years in the hotel industry, "nothing like this ever happened."