A Hamilton, Ohio, man pleaded guilty today to a felony charge for having sex with a pool raft in public.
Edwin Tobergta faces 12 months behind bars after admitting guilt to public indecency, which is a fifth-degree felony, because he has been convicted three times before to the same offense. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 4 at 8:30 a.m. by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Charles Pater.
Tobergta has been in the Butler County Jail since June in lieu of a $25,000 bond. Defense attorney Ramona Daniels asked Pater to consider lowering the bond noting the offense is a “low level, non-violent charge.”
Pater said the bond would remain the same “in light of the circumstances.”
The plea comes a week after Pater found Tobergta, 32, competent to stand trial after hearing the results of a court-ordered forensic psychological evaluation.
Tobergta, of Hamilton, was arrested for stepping out his back door naked at about 1:20 p.m. June 15 and having “sexual relations with a rubber pool float,” according to a Hamilton police report.
Theresa Teague’s 10-year-old daughter was enjoying her new swimming pool June 15 when she ran back inside her house and said, “Edwin was doing something weird out there,” the Hamilton resident told the JournalNews.
Tobergta was engaging in the sex act with an orange inflatable toy that Teague said a neighbor had put out for the trash.
Tobergta has been arrested for similar offenses, according to Hamilton Municipal Court records.
In August 2011, he was arrested at his home after he was seen engaging in sexual conduct with a pink inflatable swimming pool raft, according to police records.
The incident allegedly occurred in an alley behind his home. The witness, who was the owner of the raft, reported to police that the suspect took the raft with him after being shouted at to stop, according to records.
After the 2011 arrest, police said Tobergta admitted to the act and told officers that he has a problem and needs help.
Following a 2008 conviction for felony public indecency, Tobergta was sentenced to five years community control.
In that incident, officers responded to a home to a report of a naked man standing in a neighbor’s yard and engaging in sexual activity, according to records.
Butler County Common Pleas Judge Noah Powers said in 2008 that he sentenced Tobergta to community control so he could get help for a mental disability and drug problems.
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