CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) – A security guard admitted to masturbating multiple times while on the job at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department headquarters, according to an affidavit released Sunday.
Austin Thomas, 24, was charged with public nuisance and four counts of public masturbation. A police department employee caught Thomas masturbating on Saturday, Aug. 17, as he sat outside the front door of headquarters, the affidavit states.
The front doors of the police headquarters are open to the public and the interior of the building is visible from outside through the glass doors.
The employee reported the situation to his supervisor, officials said. The alleged masturbation was captured on video.
When investigators confronted him, Thomas stated he was “just adjusting his shirt and his pants zipper was down, so he zipped up his pants,” the affidavit states. When investigators told Thomas about the cameras, he allegedly backtracked and admitted to exposing himself and masturbating two to four times while on the job.
According to the affidavit, Thomas said: “In the heat of the moment, I wasn’t thinking.”
Authorities said Thomas was employed as a security guard for the month and a half before the incident. He made his first court appearance on Monday, August 19, and is scheduled to appear again in December for a sentencing hearing.
Thomas was appointed public defender.
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