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October 19, 2006
Indecent exposure charge dropped against Corona woman
An indecent exposure case filed against a Corona woman charged with disrobing in front of a 14-year-old neighbor boy playing basketball has been dismissed by a judge who said the language of the law only applied to men.
The Riverside County district attorney's office will appeal, saying a blanket code section makes state laws gender-neutral.
The misdemeanor charge should have applied to Alexis Luz Garcia, 40, Deputy District Attorney Alison N. Norton said.
The dismissal was made Monday by Superior Court Judge Robert W. Armstrong, a retired Los Angeles County jurist assigned to Riverside County.
He said the indecent exposure law only uses "he" when referring to the violator.
The incident was reported to have taken place last May when police said Garcia complained about the noise made by the neighbor boy while he played basketball in his yard. Norton said the boy was not aware of the protest.
When Garcia appeared a second time on a sundeck of her home, "he looked up at her, she looked down at him, and she disrobed," Norton said.
The boy ran inside his home and told his parents, who first complained to Garcia, then called police, Norton said.
--Richard K. De Atley
rdeatley@PE.com
Posted by PE.com at October 19, 2006 11:19 AM