SNOW HILL, Md.- Former Cecil County State's Attorney Edward Rollins III, who was convicted in December of indecent exposure and disorderly conduct, was sentenced to 18 months supervised probation Tuesday. He also said he submitted his resignation as state's attorney just the day before, explaining he thought it was "abundantly clear that the right thing to do for my office was to resign."
Worcester County Circuit Court Judge Brian Shockley also imposed on Rollins a 90-day jail sentence with all time suspended, 100 hours of community service, a $1,000 fine, and mental health counseling.
Rollins was arrested in mid-June for indecent exposure and disorderly conduct, for having sex, standing naked and other related acts at the sliding glass door to his balcony of his 10th floor hotel room in Ocean City.
Authorities said Rollins was in the resort town for a State's Attorney's Conference and he and his wife were staying at the Clarion Hotel when the incidents happened in full view of several people, including four women from Pennsylvania who were staying at a rented condo across from the hotel.
Rollins said at Tuesday's sentencing that he does not want what happened in Ocean City to be his "legacy" but he knows it will be. He also said his actions left him without a job or income.
"I was not as careful as I should've been," he said. "I had eight months to reflect on this...it consumes me. I have never intentionally hurt anybody. That was instilled in me by my mom and dad."
Worcester County State's Attorney Beau Oglesby asked for a harsher sentence than what the judge gave Rollins. He wanted the judge to sentence Rollins to two years incarceration, with six months in the local jail.
"This was not a crime of opportunity or happenstance," Oglesby said. "This was a crime that was deliberate and purposeful."
