OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. —
An Ottawa County man learned his sentence after he allegedly exposed himself to two young employees at a Georgetown Township ice cream shop.
Robert Linscott, 68, pleaded no contest to multiple charges earlier this month. Monday, he was sentenced to one year in jail for a misdemeanor and 36 months probation for felony aggravated indecent exposure.
The prosecutor asked the judge to consider Linscott’s previous history, and the victims, when imposing his sentence.
“The defendant has been convicted of and treated for these types of offenses previously and yet carries out in the public doing the same types of behavior. And as victims are becoming younger and younger, we're asking the court to take this barrier seriously,” she said. “The fact that this behavior just continues to happen amongst our community and sentence appropriately.”
Linscott’s attorney told the judge Linscott has “some insight into the factors that contributed” to his behavior and said he knows ways to address this behavior in the future and is motivated for treatment.
“He did ask that I address the court in regards to he does recognize the pain, the anguish, the emotional distress that he's caused,” she said. “In this particular case, he is very remorseful for that, and he is asking that the court follow the recommendation in the report.”
Linscott himself said in court he is “sorry and remorseful to this happening and it will never happen again.”
Before sentencing, the judge recognized Linscott had a history of similar offenses.
He had an indecent exposure conviction in 2015, where he was sentenced to probation and 90 days in jail with a five-day review. His discharged was deemed a “successful probation.”
In 2020, there was a conviction for misdemeanor indecent exposure in Hudsonville. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail but only served one day. He was on probation for a year.
There were two other incidents in Hudsonville, but those were dismissed as part of an agreement back in 2020.
The judge noted that including the two incidents that occurred earlier this year, there have been six victims over 10 years of criminal history.
“You've completed probation. It was described as a successful completion of probation. I guess that's debatable whether it was successful or not,” said 20th Circuit Judge Jon H. Hulsing. “Apparently, you didn't learn from your misconduct, didn’t learn from your sanctions. So in reality, probation is not successful at all.”
Hulsing said Linscott’s 2020 pre-sentence investigation reported his sex offender risk assessment described him as “low risk.”
“Obviously, that was wrong. You know right from wrong. Let's face it, you're mature, you're not youthful. It was not, this was not youthful indiscretion,” the judge said. “Low level of sanctions, apparently, don't work for you. This affects the quality of life for the community. It really does. So this needs to be sanctioned appropriately, especially when we have a repeat offender who, in spite of very reasonable treatment by the district court, you continue to reoffend.”
There was a victim impact statement that was not read in court, but the judge said Linscott’s misconduct “significantly adversely affected” the victim, and she is entitled to be protected.
The charges against him go back to an incident on June 23. According to probable cause documents obtained by 13 ON YOUR SIDE, Linscott allegedly went to What's the Scoop Ice Cream Shop on Baldwin Street and ordered ice cream. He sat at a table inside the store and later exposed himself out of the bottom of his shorts to the 19-year-old employee, documents say. He is also accused of touching himself while watching the employee.
Linscott left the store and detectives were unable to identify him.
About a month later, on July 28, Linscott allegedly went to What's the Scoop a second time and again exposed himself out of the bottom of his shorts to another employee.
Employees got a photo of Linscott before he left, which helped detectives identify him. Deputies interviewed Linscott on July 29, where detectives say he admitted to exposing himself in both instances. He was then taken into custody.
Watch the full sentencing here: