MONROE, Ga. — A man facing three charges of public indecency could have his bond revoked on the first two.
Alcovy Circuit Judge Horace A. Johnson Jr. will conduct a hearing in Newton County Superior Court on Thursday to consider revoking bond on 56-year-old Jeffrey Kirvin Penland’s arrests from July 2017 and January 2018.
Penland was arrested again Aug. 26 after allegedly masturbating in the presence of a woman and her child as they shopped in a store in Social Circle. He remained in the Walton County Detention Center on Friday night under $5,000 cash bond.
The first two times Penland was arrested were in Newton County, on July 13, 2017, and Jan. 14, 2018.
Binford Griffin Bramblett, an assistant district attorney, is prosecuting Penland’s cases on the first two arrests. He is represented by the public defender’s office.
The first contact Covington police had with Penland came at the Goodwill store at 3173 Highway 278 NW on July 13, 2017.
A Newton County sheriff’s deputy who was at the store told a police officer she saw Penland sitting in a rocking chair, rocking back and forth with his penis exposed with a book in his hands. Surveillance video later revealed Penland to be masturbating while he looked around the store.
Penland was arrested and transported to the Newton County jail.
He was on bond when police were called to Kroger at 3139 Highway 278 NW at 2:17 a.m. Jan. 14, for a man allegedly exposing himself to a female customer.
The first officer to respond, Denis Cerovic, talked with a store employee and noticed a man fitting the description of the suspect. When Cerovic and several colleagues went to talk with the man, the suspect had his hands in his pockets.
Cerovic asked the man to take his hands out of his pockets. He did, but then returned them. The second time Cerovic asked the man to remove his hands from his pockets, he had his keys inside his fist. That’s when Cerovic placed the man, later identified as Penland, under arrest.
Cerovic grabbed Penland’s arm and Penland allegedly began to resist. Three other officers assisted while Cerovic tried to place Penland in handcuffs, but Penland pulled back and stiffened his arms to try and prevent it.
The police officers put Penland on the ground and placed his hands behind his back while Officer Mark Joyner applied the handcuffs.
After Penland was placed in a patrol car, Joyner talked with a witness who said Penland approached her in the dairy aisle and tried to start a conversation. The woman said she didn’t have time to talk with him, but he approached her again, bouncing on his toes and trying to draw attention to his waist and groin area, where he allegedly had his penis exposed through a hole in his jeans.
Penland was charged with public indecency and obstruction of an officer.
Penland’s latest arrest came in the Family Dollar, when a woman said a man was following her and her infant as they shopped in the store at 1263 N. Cherokee Road.
The victim took pictures of the man and his car as he left, then called 911. Social Circle police Chief Tyrone Oliver said the responding officers gathered information and were able to obtain an address for their suspect.
Upon arriving at his home on Surrey Chase Drive, they found Penland in the garage area and saw his vehicle behind a privacy fence.
Anthony S. Carter, who leads the public defender office, declined to comment. Bramblett did not return a call seeking comment.
