Racine police say a 21-year-old Racine man is facing charges after masturbating in public at least twice in a local hospital.
Mercede Marshall was charged Tuesday with two misdemeanor counts of lewd and lascivious behavior in a public place. If convicted, he faces up to 18 months in jail and/or up to $20,000 in fines. Because he is being charged as a repeater, a judge has the discretion to tack more time onto any sentence they hand down.
According to the criminal complaint, Racine police were called at 1:05 p.m. Monday to St. Luke’s Hospital, 1320 Wisconsin Street, for a report of a man seen masturbating in the building. When officers arrived, hospital security showed them video surveillance footage of a man – later identified as Marshall – enter the view of the camera, look around, and then begin masturbating.
Police say hospital security before calling police tried to confront Marshall, but he ran out of the building heading west toward the Mack Center. Marshall was seen wearing a sweatshirt, blue jeans, gray Nike high top shoes with a black Nike swish and white soles. Security staff told officers Marshall has been inside the hospital on more than one occasion so they placed the security camera in the area where he has been seen.
Officers went to Marshall’s house and were given permission to go to his room where they observed clothing folded on a chair that matched the clothes Marshall was seen wearing in the video. When confronted with the reason the police were at his house, Marshall got loud and said he was at his girlfriend’s house all day, the complaint reads.
Marshall remains in the Racine County Jail on a $200 cash bond. His next court day is April 30 for a pre-trial conference.