Ex-Greene County deputy charged with exposing himself in public (2024)

This story has been updated with remarks from the defendant’s lawyers.

A deputy with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office resigned Tuesday, Aug. 13, the day before he was charged with exposing himself at a Springfield Dollar Tree store.

Jessy Ray Snow, 31, of Rogersville, was charged with the class B misdemeanor of sexual misconduct. Snow is accused of exposing his genitalia to a woman on Aug. 10, while off duty.

“I am appalled by the conduct of this former employee and I am confident that he will be held accountable for his actions,” Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott said in a news release.

According to court documents, a woman said that a man following her with his hand down his pants, “creeping her out” in the Dollar Tree store.

“She watched him out of her peripheral vision and saw him unzipping his shorts, pulling his penis out, and touching his penis,” a Springfield Police Department investigator wrote in indicting documents filed against Snow.

The woman believed Snow performed a sexual act on himself.

“She felt uncomfortable and went to the registers to contact employees,” the investigator wrote. “She took photos of the man as he quickly walked out of the store.”

Snow reportedly went to his car, but returned to the store, where he talked to an employee who he had seen the victim talking to. Snow allegedly explained to the employee, in his view, what had happened.

Snow allegedly told the store employee that when he got to his car he realized the zipper on his pants was down and perhaps broken. He said he was not wearing any underwear.

Status as a sheriff’s deputy makes allegation ‘more aggravating’

According to court records filed by the Greene County prosecutor:

“The defendant’s position as a law enforcement official, though not on the job at the time he committed this offense, does make the offense different or more aggravating than a ‘typical’ sexual misconduct. The defendant poses a public safety risk insofar as he chose a victim at random and in a public space where any one, including a child, could have seen his genitals.”

The case was investigated by Springfield police. An officer reviewed store video.

According to court documents filed by a Springfield police investigator:

“The male suspect could be seen walking through an aisle of the store while touching the area of his genitals with both hands. It appeared he might have been zipping up the front of his shorts.”

Snow resigned from the Greene County Sheriff’s Office after he was placed on administrative suspension pending the outcome of the police investigation and an internal investigation. Snow refused to cooperate with a sheriff’s office investigation, according to the statement from the sheriff’s office.

Snow is represented by the law firm of Wampler & Passanise, which sent a press release to the Springfield Daily Citizen. It said, in part, that Snow has been a deputy for five years and has no criminal record.

“This has been a very humbling experience for our client, and we ask that all parties involved be granted the privacy they deserve as the legal process unfolds,” Passanise said in the release.

The bond was set at $1,000, and Snow was not listed in the active jail population on Aug. 15. If convicted of misdemeanor sexual misconduct, Snow faces up to six months in the county jail or another penal institution, and a fine of up to $1,000.

GuideStar, which provides online information on nonprofits, lists Jessy Snow as the principal officer for Sheriff Arnott’s Mounted Posse, a nonprofit organization that provides security patrol at local events.

According to the Sheriff’s Office website, the Mounted Posse is comprised of volunteers who are “representatives of the Sheriff but are not law enforcement personnel and do not enforce laws.”