A 42-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman, both homeless of long date in town, were arrested for having sex on a sidewalk by the PNC Bank building on Belle Terre Parkway in Palm Coast Wednesday.
The couple, Michael Brougher and Mary Cosper, did so within sight of a group of other homeless people, who were lounging by an overhang. A mattress had been placed on the sidewalk. When a Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy responded, the deputy reported that the couple was actively engaged in sex “in the missionary position,” even as the deputy walked up to them.
It was nearly 11 p.m., well past bank hours.
A deputy told them to stop. Both sat up, seemingly as unconcerned about their nakedness as Adam and Eve before the fall, until the deputy told them to cover themselves. Cosper had to be told several times to do so. Brougher told the deputy he couldn’t help himself, Cosper was his girlfriend. They’d had a few drinks to accompany their tryst.
Both have had run-ins with the law before. Cosper is well known to local deputies, and last year was arrested on a charge of battering another homeless man. The charge was dropped.
Both were placed under arrest Wednesday night–not for having sex, which remains legal in Florida, but for exposing their organs in a public place, a first-degree misdemeanor. They were then placed in the back of a patrol vehicle and taken to the county jail. On the way there, Cosper and Brougher continued their tryst, but verbally, she telling him she wished they were still enraptured, and he feeling grateful, but for a different reason.
“I’m glad they let me put some clothes on so I’m not walking down the street naked,” he told her, according to his arrest report.
“Why are we being arrested?” she asked him.
“We were having sex, apparently,” he said.
When the deputy asked him if he’d been drinking, Brougher said he’d had 58 beers, an unlikely amount: when the couple was tested for blood-alcohol content, it was relatively high, but indicated they were more in the three to four drinks range, at least in the period leading up to the arrest. She blew a 0.19 percent blood alcohol, he blew a 0.29 percent. An issue of more serious concern emerged as Brougher was being processed through the medical station at the jail: he told the nurse that he was currently being tested for HIV, but that he’d told Cosper as much before they had sex.
Cosper said that was not true, which may lead to further charges against Brougher. While the sexual-exposure charge will likely result in little more than time served in the jail, not disclosing one’s HIV status to a partner is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
The arrest on a sexually-related charge isn’t the first for Brougher. Six years ago he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge for making obscene texts and calls to his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child (they’d separated in 2012). In one of the texts, he told his ex in considerably more colorful language that he used to believe in love, but no longer, and that it was all sex now. The charge was dropped after Brougher lived up to a deferred prosecution agreement. He has also been trespassed from the Bunnell public library.
Arrests for public indecency of the sort are rare in Flagler. The closest thing to a sexual act in public in Palm Coast goes back three years, and that was part of a sting operation the sheriff’s office conducted in Graham Swamp, all but enticing individuals to expose themselves–and two did, resulting in slightly more serious charges: They were sentenced to a year’s probation.
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Mikey Eyes says
Trump’s fault! LOL!
FUTRUMP says
for sure. he is a fraudulent creep who is about to be fired. Yay
Nightis says
Be nice please
David S. says
Only in Palm Coast……
Mia says
Only in Florida
Agkistrodon says
Summer of love……………guess they couldn’t find a bush to hide behind…..
FlaglerBear says
I remember when I was a cop many moons ago, I worked in a town with a lot of homeless people; and outdoor sex was a “thing.” I mean, what were they supposed to do? They couldn’t afford a Holiday Inn! I sorta felt bad for them, but unfortunately, the law was the law, and they had to be arrested. Just to be sure everyone went to jail happy, I always let the dude finish. You don’t want to have to fight a guy with blue balls!
See something say something... says
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
MRC says
Only in Florida! The worst thing I have ever seen in my 63 years of life was a woman urinating by the side of a building. Wow, this beats it all! This is why we need law enforcement regularly patrolling our streets and arresting/ticketing homeless offenders. I have personally called the Sheriff on more than one occasion about problems with drunken homeless hanging out, fighting, arguing, etc., etc. in the area to the south of the Town Center Publix/Dollar General. I know that the Sheriff’s office has serious crimes to solve, but increased police presence and an effort to move these “parties” on down the road would be appreciated! I can’t even imagine if my grandkids happened to be in a car passing by when this type was going on! It is horrifying to think about! And it is only going to get worse when the number of homeless increase during the winter months. Please kindly step up your patrols FCSO!
R. S. says
How about offering public toilets and shelter ? Seems a simpler and kinder solution.
ASF says
Giving a whole new meaning to the term, “late night deposit.”
Not fair says
I have a house, job and running vehicle and I’m not getting any.
Proud American says
That was funny!
R. S. says
It seems wrong to blame or to arrest any homeless person for doing something in public what all or most of us do in private. That would amount to penalizing someone for lacking the facilities to keep the action private, or for being poor, in other words. Only if the persons had access to alternative ways of achieving privacy could one consider them culpable. Homelessness is mainly a deep failure on the part of our social responsibilities to one another.
Proud american says
Hello….sure let’s let them do whatever they want out in public because it’s not their fault… let’s them urinate, defecate, masturbate, etc…
No it’s not okay. It’s not because they are poor, it’s because you don’t do that in public.
Over it says
Proud American, I agree. There are plenty of less fortunate people that don’t behave this way. These two are just plain disrespectful. And there are quite a few homeless people that live on the streets by choice. Not because of unfortunate life events but because they just don’t want the responsibility of everyday life. R.S., save the violin for people that deserve it. These two don’t.
R. S. says
Invite them in, you Proud american [sic]! [You do know that patriotic pride is the pride of the scoundrel, no? Alexis de Tocqueville complained about US patriotism that ”It is impossible to conceive a more troublesome or more garrulous patriotism; it wearies even those who are disposed to respect it.”
Vote says
Exactly. Flagler county has failed our homeless veterans and other homeless people. We need to provide mental health services, rent assistance. Especially with COVID causing unemployment or underemployment, evictions etc. also, the Methodist church had a shelter for when temps dip in winter but the fascists on the Co. Commission made that illegal. You heard me, illegal to help our fellow humans. Wow, WWJD? Can’t wait to vot you all out. 😂
Over it says
Hey vote, not sure if you’re aware of this or not but many homeless people used to sit around that church getting drunk all day and using intravenous drugs. With all the daycares and elementary school within walking distance to that church I’m glad the county put a stop to that. There’s is a difference between helping people in need and enabling delinquents.
Brian says
So much for social distancing…..
Not my circus says
I feel bad for the deputy having to de-latch them 🤢😂😂😂
Steve says
The Dude.. across from EastHampton and Dollar General TownCenter under tbe Trees in the shade cold Beers Sauced really just chillin caught doin the bad nasty on the sidewalk NYC style. Lol Ya gotta do what sometimes is..Roll on
Kathryn A Lawler says
Ridiculous !!absurd!! Illicit! Selfish self serving! get them outta here Go to the woods! We are not Barbarians in PC!
Steve says
Sadly for you its about 20 years to late for that kind of thinking. They are here to stay until a solution is found. Just sayin
Geezer says
It was after 11:00 pm–it can be said that Palm Coast had 2 full moons that evening.
Said moons eclipsed…
I hope that the responding deputy doesn’t develop PTSD from this ugly incident.
Jaybird says
Get a Room………Ah, well at least a few trees and a large bush !!!!
Mythoughts says
FLORIDA THE STATE OF MANY SOAP OPERA STORIES. THEY SURE GIVE PLENTY OF NEW SKITS FOR SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, EVERY DAY.
CB from PC says
This is why you never buy used bedding.
Sherry says
RS Right On! Instead of seeing this inhumanity as funny, we should all be ashamed that so many people are homeless . . . especially in a society where “Billionaires” pay almost ZERO in taxes. With almost all the mental hospitals closed, drug rehab centers filled to capacity, and very little in the way of homeless shelters, we have abandoned those who most desperately need our help.
Brad says
Interesting choice of photo to accompany the story.