An Ohio attorney has been suspended from practicing law in the state after repeatedly exposing himself and masturbating while driving.
On Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Scott Blauvelt, a 50-year-old attorney who received his law license in 1997, according to the court opinion. Blauvelt has served as the prosecutor for the city of Hamilton and an assistant prosecutor for Butler County.
Police caught the lawyer driving naked five times between 2018 and 2021, the Supreme Court showed. A previous opinion also noted that in 2006, when Blauvelt was the Hamilton city prosecutor, security cameras captured him naked after hours in the government building that housed the prosecutor's office. Although his public indecency charge at the time was dismissed on a speedy-trial violation, the city fired him.
Blauvelt was previously suspended for two years in 2020 after police found him driving nude during a 2018 traffic stop. In the first seven months of that suspension, he was charged with three additional counts of public indecency for exposing his naked body to other drivers. He was also masturbating during two of these incidents.
The attorney pleaded guilty to all these charges and further admitted to "other similar incidents of public indecency for which he was not apprehended," the court said.
In May 2021, Blauvelt started a two-year program to treat "compulsive sexual-behavior disorder." He attends weekly psychotherapy sessions as well as meetings for Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, a 12-set program for sexual addiction. He also sees a psychiatrist for his diagnosed bipolar disorder.
The court observed that he had "expressed sincere remorse for his actions," but had no medical prognosis to show he could competently and ethically return to practicing law at any specific time in the future.
To return to practicing law, Blauvelt will have to demonstrate sustained abstinence from alcohol and proof of compliance with his mental health treatment plan, along with other requirements for reinstatement, the court ruled.
Under the Ohio Code, anyone can be charged with public indecency for "recklessly" exposing their private parts and engaging in sexual conduct or masturbation in proximity to others who are not members of their household.
Most public indecency offenses are considered misdemeanors of the fourth degree, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and up to $250 in fines, according to Cincinnati Firm Luftman, Heck & Associates LLP.
In other states, residents have made news for defying indecency laws involving public sex, urination and topless sunbathing.
Newsweek could not reach Blauvelt for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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