Sheila McLaughlin reports:
One of the region’s most notorious sex offenders was out of prison seven months when he was accused of exposing himself to children again.
Michael Hamblin, one of the region’s most notorious sex offenders for exposing himself to children, was out of prison less than seven months when he allegedly did it again in Middletown. Photo provided.
Michael Hamblin’s repeated arrests for the same behavior sparked a change in the state law that increased the penalties for a third public indecency charge, increased the offense to a felony, and made it more difficult for suspects to get out on bail.
The latest alleged incident occurred July 17 at Smith Park in Middletown, where Hamblin was accused of exposing himself to a mother and her children and a man and his granddaughter at the docks at the park.
A Butler County grand jury indicted Hamblin Wednesday on a fifth-degree felony charge of public indecency, an offense that carries six months to a year in prison.
He’s already back in state prison for violating parole, a spokesman for Ohio’s prison system said, while he faces the Butler County charge. Hamblin is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Aug. 29 before Judge Michael Sage in Butler County Common Pleas Court.
The mother of Nicole Robertson, the West Chester girl after whom the changed state law was named in 2007, is livid that Hamblin was out of prison early.
“You have got to be kidding me. I thought he was in for six years. When is it going to stop? He’s going to hurt somebody,” said Lori Robertson.
Nicole, who was 9 at the time Hamblin exposed himself to her at Kohl’s department store in West Chester in 2005, is entering her sophomore year in high school. Her mother said she was upset by the news that Hamblin allegedly was at it again and that he was out of prison. (more…)
