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Woman Arrested After Going On Naked Stroll Through Lumber Store
By
Ben Yakas
Published May 17, 2012
Modified May 17, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published May 17, 2012
Modified May 17, 2012
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A 49-year-old woman was arrested after going on a naked stroll through a Saratoga Springs lumber store and convenient store this week. Barbara Lafleur has been charged with public lewdness, but she nonchalantly countered that she was "merely expressing her freedom to be fully liberated." Doesn't she know she could just use the fugue state defense?
Lafleur walked through a Stewart's Shop and Curtis Lumber within a few minutes of each other Tuesday, saying "Have a good day" to one bewildered lumberyard employee. "The manager said 'Ma'am, are you aware you have no clothes on?' She was kosher and cool about it, and the manager told her she needed to leave," said a Stewart's employee.
“It appears she must have been engaging in some sort of free expression,” said District Attorney James A. Murphy III. “Unfortunately, that form of free expression is defined under the penal law as public lewdness.” While it's legal to go topless in NY State (thanks to a 1992 ruling), it's still not legal to go completely naked in public—Lafleur could face up to 90 days in prison. Murphy added: "Surprisingly, mental health found no psychiatric issues whatsoever."
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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