Ex-teacher sentenced to probation for masturbating in a Bucks County park
Matthew Gagat was convicted of disorderly conduct Monday for masturbating at Lenape Park in Sellersville last summer.
A former fifth-grade teacher at a Haverford Township elementary school was sentenced to one of year of probation after a one-day trial Monday for masturbating at a Bucks County park last summer.
Matthew Gagat, of Horsham, 48, was convicted of disorderly conduct for an incident on June 27, 2024 in which a woman sitting on a bench in Sellersville’s Lenape Park told police that she saw him “touching himself.”
Gagat was acquitted of open lewdness, the more serious charge that he faced.
After the verdict was announced, his attorney, Lonny Fish, said he felt the jury’s decision was fair.
“It’s the best result that we could’ve asked for,” Fish said. “For whatever it’s worth, he’s been doing well since the allegation. He’s back on his feet. He’s a veteran, and he served our country.”
The woman testified Monday that she was sitting on the bench, rolling a cigarette, when she noticed Gagat standing on the other side of a small creek. He walked behind some nearby trees, she said, and she initially thought he was urinating, but realized that he was masturbating. She stood up, yelled, “This is disgusting,” and called 911, she said.
At the time of the incident, Gagat was out on bail after he was caught masturbating in Whitemarsh Cemetery in Ambler months earlier by a couple walking their dog. In that case, Gagat pleaded no contest to indecent exposure in August 2024 and was sentenced to two years probation.
Probation in the Bucks County case will run consecutive to that.
Gagat, who most recently taught at Lynnewood Elementary, has appealed the Montgomery County conviction and is seeking to have his license to teach in Pennsylvania reinstated.
The former teacher also denied masturbating in Bucks County. Fish told jurors Monday that the case was rife with reasonable doubt and said that the woman assumed Gagat was masturbating without knowing for sure.
He noted that the two were separated by about 75 feet and that the incident took place just before 9 p.m., at dusk.
“She made her own judgment, and I’m sure she believed it,” Fish said. “But was she in a position to make that judgment? We have no other witnesses, it’s dark out, and it’s hard to see.”
Assistant District Attorney Anna Frank said the case was simple and clear and encouraged the jurors to use their “good, old-fashioned common sense” to reach their verdict.