Simmons

ELKINS — A Randolph County man who allegedly exposed himself to a woman and a juvenile in front of a local store in 2024 entered a plea agreement this week that lowered a felony charge to a misdemeanor in Randolph County Magistrate Court.

Michael Shane Simmons, 40, pled guilty to one count of second-offense indecent exposure, a misdemeanor. Simmons will face one year in prison with credit for time served. Randolph County Magistrate Michael Dyer presided over the hearing.

Simmons has already served more than one year in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $10,000 cash bond. He was initially charged with third-offense indecent exposure, a felony. Simmons was represented by attorney Brent Easton.

According to the criminal complaint, prepared by Lieutenant B.D. Tice with the Elkins City Police Department, on Sept. 2, Tice responded to a complaint about a man allegedly exposing himself to two females by the Dollar General Store on Harrison Avenue. Tice met the two females, who said a man was in the store’s bathroom, and he had exposed himself to them “at the corner of the sidewalk” of the store.

Finding the bathroom door locked, Tice was given the key by a store employee, the complaint states. The officer unlocked the door and found Simmons in the bathroom. Tice asked him why he had exposed himself to two females, and Simmons allegedly said, “I couldn’t help it if my pants had fallen down.”

Police found two previous convictions for indecent exposure on Simmons’ record, including one in September 2017 and one in June 2024, according to the complaint.

Simmons took a urine test and tested positive for THC, methamphetamine and MDMA, the complaint states. Tice writes in the complaint that “MDMA is a drug that is used to promote euphoria, feelings of closeness, empathy and sexuality.”

Tice also learned that Simmons has two previous complaints for “exposing himself to female nursing staff members of” the Tygart Valley Regional Jail, according to the criminal complaint.