Ex-fifth grade teacher will fight allegations of masturbating in a Bucks County park at trial, lawyer says

A Horsham man and former elementary schoolteacher accused of masturbating in a park this summer must face a Bucks County judge on charges including open lewdness and disorderly conduct.

Matthew Gagat, 47, was held for court on those charges after a heated preliminary hearing Tuesday in which his attorney, Paul Lang, insisted that the sole witness was mistaken and had come to a false conclusion.

“This alleged eyewitness doesn’t necessarily see anything that’s criminal by her eyes, so I question the entire validity of the testimony we heard today,” Lang said. “My client’s a proud veteran, and he maintains his innocence. This is a case we’re taking to trial.”

Perkasie police were called to Lenape Park in Sellersville on June 27 for reports of a man who was masturbating along a walking trail, according to court filings. The woman called the officers and told them the man had been standing on the opposite side of a river and appeared to be staring at her.

That woman, who testified at Tuesday’s hearing, said she saw Gagat as soon as she arrived at the park. While sitting on a bench and rolling a cigarette, she said, she watched Gagat walk into a tree line near a parking lot.

She said that she saw Gagat holding his hands near his crotch for “five to 10 minutes,” moving them back and forth in a “masturbatory motion.”

After seeing this, the woman said, she called police, given the public nature of the alleged act.

“I was worried someone else might come to the park and see this, like a child,” said the woman, who broke into tears and had to pause temporarily during her testimony.

Lang said Gagat has a medical condition affecting his prostate that sometimes makes urinating difficult, and had been attempting to discreetly do so in an area of the park he believed was away from passersby. He noted, in his argument, that the witness said she couldn’t see Gagat’s genitals.

However, prosecutor Victoria Pollock asserted that the witness’ report was believable and urged District Judge Regina Armitage to refer the case to county court.

“He did this at a park where children play, where people are,” she said. “It’s not like we’re talking about him doing this at home, in his backyard.”

Officers responding to the call later encountered Gagat, whose distinctive clothing, including a black cutoff T-shirt, matched the description the woman provided, the affidavit said. He denied masturbating.

The woman’s report was made while Gagat was out on bail for a nearly identical case in Montgomery County in which several people told police they saw Gagat exposing himself and masturbating in March at a cemetery in Ambler.

Gagat entered a no-contest plea to indecent exposure in that case in August and was sentenced to two years of probation. He underwent a psychosexual evaluation and will be on sex-offender supervision during his probation as a condition of that plea.

Gagat continued to teach fifth grade at Lynnewood Elementary School after his arrests but was suspended from his position in July, after media reports on the criminal charges.

Administration at the school said neither the district nor the state Department of Education had been notified of either of his criminal cases, in an apparent violation of state requirements by Gagat and law enforcement.