Hasenfus sentenced for exposing himself
By LINDA SPICE
of the Journal Sentinel staffLast Updated: Nov. 2, 2000Waukesha - Former
Iran-contra gunrunner Eugene Hasenfus was sentenced Thursday to spend one
year on probation for indecently exposing himself.
"I must admit this is one of the most ignorant, stupid, most embarrassing
things that has ever happened to me," Hasenfus said in court before being
sentenced Thursday by Circuit Judge Robert Mawdsley. "Unfortunately, it
happened. I'm not trying to hide behind anyone's coats. I'm trying to be
outward, laying myself on the mercy of this court."
Hasenfus exposed himself while masturbating in his pickup truck July 10 in
the parking lot of Kmart, according to the criminal complaint. A shopper
returning to her car told police she saw a man exposing himself.
Hasenfus told police he stuck a construction-type glove over his license
plate to hide it in case someone caught him, according to the criminal
complaint, but that the shopper removed the glove and jotted down Hasenfus'
plate number.
Hasenfus pleaded no contest to an indecent exposure charge and was found
guilty. Mawdsley imposed but stayed a 60-day term in Waukesha County's Huber
facility.
Hasenfus was ordered to pay $270 in court costs, to undergo psychological
evaluation, to follow any recommended treatment and to avoid contact with the
woman who witnessed him expose himself and the Kmart at 18200 W. Blue Mound
Road, Town of Brookfield.
A former Marine from Marinette, Hasenfus, 59, now lives in Milwaukee. He had
faced a maximum sentence of nine months in jail.
A plane Hasenfus was on was shot down in Nicaragua in October 1986. He was
the sole survivor of the crew but was captured by the Sandinistas and jailed
for 73 days while the U.S. government denied any knowledge that he was
running guns to the contra rebels as part of a CIA-directed operation.
The incident prompted a lengthy investigation into the involvement of the
Reagan administration in a CIA-directed operation to arm the contra rebels
through money obtained by secret U.S. arms sales to Iran.
When Mawdsley asked Hasenfus if he was receiving treatment for any emotional
disorders, Hasenfus said: "My name goes back into 1985 with President Reagan
and the contra affairs. I was a lone survivor of an aircraft shot down . . .
and I have received a very good case of post-traumatic stress."
Hasenfus has been dogged by a series of problems - from financial woes to
divorce - in recent years. In 1996, the Clinton administration rejected his
claim for $800,000 for injuries he said he suffered in the plane crash.
Hasenfus' wife filed for divorce in December 1998, and it was granted earlier
this year.
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Nov. 3, 2000.
