New Hampshire Motor Speedway GM pleads guilty to indecent exposure
New Hampshire Motor Speedway executive vice president and general manager Jerry Gappens pleaded guilty Thursday in New Hampshire Circuit Court to a charge of indecent exposure, according to a report in the New Hampshire Union Leader.
The newspaper reports that Gappens, 53, will pay a $500 fine and has agreed to continue counseling. He had been scheduled to stand trial Thursday after being arrested and charged with misdemeanor indecent exposure and lewdness for an alleged sexual encounter with a 19-year-old in the parking lot of a Manchester, New Hampshire nursing home.
The New Hampshire Union Leader previously reported that police working a prostitution detail on Jan. 21 charged Gappens with lewdness after officers reported seeing him and a female, later identified as Kendra Johnson, 19, allegedly engaged in a sexual act in Gappens' parked vehicle.
Because neither Gappens nor Johnson admitted exchanging money, Gappens was not charged with prostitution, but was charged with lewdness based on what the police reported seeing.
Following Gappens' arrest, his attorney, Tom Reid, issued a statement to local news agencies in New Hampshire that read, in part: "Mr. Gappens acknowledges using poor judgment that has resulted in a misdemeanor charge that is both embarrassing and devastating to him and his family, and for that he sincerely apologizes. He regrets his actions. While he made a bad decision, he did not, in my opinion, engage in conduct that violates the referenced statute or any other criminal law."
Gappens has held his positions at New Hampshire Motor Speedway since 2008. He is married and has three children, according to the track's website.
