In the early morning hours on Monday, Sept. 1 Powhatan resident, Chester Holtyn III was arrested for committing an obscene act in public. The Farmville police department responded to the 200 block of High Street where Holtyn approached a Longwood student behind the Hotel Weyanoke around 2 a.m. and offered her $100 to watch him dance. Holtyn then dropped his pants and committed a sexual display. Holtyn was charged under code section 18.2-387.1, according to Virginia state law, General District Court Case Information. This states that any obscene sexual display in a public area where others are present, is classified as a class 1-misdemeanor. The Farmville Police Department provided a press release authorized Sept. 12, detailing the event. If convicted, Holtyn faces possible confinement in jail for no more than twelve months, a fine of $2,500 or both.
According to the press release, the student was approached in the bar parking lot on High Street. Speaking to The Rotunda on anonymity, the student mentioned that the incident occurred in the back parking lot of Hotel Weyanoke. She got out of her car and made her way to the commuter lot. Walking alone behind Bar 202, she noticed she had forgotten her access key, and began speaking to a man she assumed worked at the Bar 202, whom she later identified as Holtyn.
The student admitted that she made poor choices of engaging in conversation with the man. When she saw him approach closer, outside his car, speaking to him under the impression he was a Bar 202 employee, she recalls he asked her if she knew of any place he can “blow some money.” The student notes he offered her money to watch him dance, she agreed stating, “I thought he meant dance, a wiggle or a jig.” Conversation carried on “until the next thing I knew, his pants were on the ground as he was leaning against his open driver [side] door,” said the student. Holtyn began to touch himself, when the student immediately asked him to stop. Holtyn apologized, placed a twenty-dollar bill on the car next to his truck and drove off.
The Longwood student was then able to enter the building after a friend let her in, where she then directly reported the incident to the Farmville police, whom quickly located the man.
Holtyn will return to Farmville for a court hearing in Prince Edward County General District Court set for Sept. 16, 2014.
Police advise all students to take practical measures of safety.
“Students need to be careful, never go up to a stranger, it can very easily turn into an incident,” stated Chief of Farmville Police Department Doug Mooney.
