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Newport News officer charged with indecent exposure previously acquitted in two separate sex crime cases

Posted at 12:05 PM, Apr 08, 2013
and last updated 2013-04-08 17:46:58-04

Newport News, Va. - A Newport News police officer has been charged with indecent exposure and obscene sexual display after a witness told police he was standing on his front porch naked and masturbating over the weekend.

Court files say other neighbors also called police.

This happened at around 9:15 a.m. in the 700 block of Harpersville Road police say.

When officers arrived on the scene, an officer saw the naked man shut the front door. The naked officer has been identified as 41-year-old Christopher E. Roush. He is a master police officer and has been with the department for nine years. He's now on unpaid administrative leave.

NewsChannel 3 has also learned that Christopher Roush was formerly Christopher Miner.  He legally changed his name in December of 2012.

Christopher Miner had been on paid administrative leave from January 2009 until December 2009 when the department fired him. He returned to the Newport News Police Department in March 2010.

The police chief reinstated Miner after he was acquitted in two separate sex crime cases.That happened in January and February of 2010.

Two separate witnesses say Miner tied them up and sexually assaulted them, but juries in both cases delivered not-guilty verdicts.

NewsChannel 3 has also discovered that in Newport News Circuit Court there's no record of either trial. They've all vanished. This is known to happen when individuals get their past criminal history expunged.

Officials are now conducting an investigation into the indecent exposure incident

Rouse has been released and is scheduled to be arraigned on April 24th.

Stay with NewsChannel 3 for more information on this developing story.