Photo by Eric Francis
Dylan Gingues (in loincloth) engages Officers Logan Scelza and Sean Fernandes in a debate about his Constitutional rights in Hartford Wednesday.
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The same man who caused a Bellows Falls elementary school to be briefly locked down a week ago after he ran past in the nude was arrested again Wednesday when he appeared in White River Junction.
Dylan Gingues, 26, of Bellows Falls was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of lewd and lascivious conduct and violating a court-ordered condition of release. A woman at the newly opened LISTEN Center told police Gingues exposed himself to her when she and her children arrived to attend a community dinner.
Gingues and a small group of friends had just gotten out of their car when his appearance began to create a stir, drawing a small crowd of onlookers.
Hartford Police officers were already at neighboring Lyman Point Park when the woman ran up to them and said Gingues exposed himself.
Meanwhile, Gingues stood nearby in a loincloth and engaged Officers Logan Scelza and Sean Fernandes in a debate about his Constitutional rights.
“Awww! He’s cute,” said a young woman on a nearby balcony as police handcuffed Gingues.
Cornelio Conley of Massachusetts, who said he was one of three friends who had driven to White River Junction with Gingues to eat at the community dinner, was adamant that Gingues did not deliberately expose himself to anyone.
Conley, who said he’d been in Vermont for just a week, described the band of friends as traveling “free-staters” and said they were all interested in preserving what they perceived as basic freedoms.
“We’ve had to deal with this over and over again,” he said.
“Having dealt with the same scenario four or five times this past week you’d have to believe he would be smart enough not to touch himself,” Conley said. “I’m 100 percent sure that didn’t happen.”
Police also responded later that night to the report of a man ‘dressed like Tarzan’ who was trying to hitchhike on I-91 northbound near exit 7 in Springfield. It is not known if the two incidents are related.
- Eric Francis | Correspondent
