Brandon Bernard

Name:
Bernard, Brandon Isiah

Date of Booking:
04/28/2025

Reason(s) For Booking:
PUBLIC INDECENCY-1ST OR 2ND CONVICTION – MISDEMEANOR

Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]

On April 19, 2025 at 1851 hours, I Corporal E. Lundy (#2243) was dispatched to 1625 Bass Rd (Marshalls) in reference to a sexual offense.

Upon my arrival I spoke with several female adults. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] was the person who called BCSO. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated that while in the store with family members and their children that a black male was sexually playing with himself. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated that she initially thought the man just had an itch but he continued to touch himself over his clothing. She then told me that she had part of the incident recorded. On the video, the suspect is repeatedly touching his pe*is over his pants. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] zoomed in on her video and saw that the man was recording the children that were nearby. I spoke to the parents/guardians of those children. The parents were disgusted with the act and did not want their children’s faces on a man’s phone who was touching himself in the store in front on the children. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] did send me the video and a screenshot of the suspect.

I then called crimes against children investigators and spoke to Lieutenant D. Malone and trainee Corporal D. Medina. I was advised that this matter was not a crimes against children but indecent exposure. I was told that it is not a crime against the children since the recording was not of the children in an indecent manner and that the man did not expose his genitals. The complainants were given a crime victim case pamphlet in reference to this incident.

To meet OCGA 16-6-8 Public Indecency standards one of the following has to apply; an act of sexual intercourse, a lewd exposure of the sexual organs, a lewd appearance in a state of partial or complete nudity, or a lewd caress or fondling of the body of another person.

On April 21, 2025 I communicated with the solicitors office and was informed that the incident was indeed an act of child molestation. The suspect was performing an indecent or immoral act in the presence of children. Although his pe*is is not seen outside of his pants, the suspect is touching his semi erect/ erect pe*is through his pants in the presence of children. One of the case laws that supports this incident would be Clark v. State (2024). This incident has been forwarded back to crimes against children investigator Lieutenant D. Malone and trainee Corporal D. Medina.

[End of Narrative]