A Philadelphia man is facing charges after he repeatedly masturbated in front of passengers on the Lansdale-Doylestown Regional Rail Line, according to a criminal complaint filed in Magisterial District Judge Ed Levine’s court on Oct. 16.
Dante Oliver, 29, of Philadelphia, has been charged with three counts of open lewdness and three counts of disorderly conduct, in connection with a series of incidents that began on Aug. 15 at the Pennbrook Train Station and ended at SEPTA Transit Police Headquarters on Sept. 20.
According to the complaint, a female victim contacted transit police on Aug. 27, stating that she had openly observed a male passenger—later identified as Dante Oliver—masturbating through his pants while seated next to her in the rear car of train #515. The victim stated that the incident began in the area of Pennbrook Regional Rail Station, located along the 1100 block of Church Road, and that she had observed him doing the same thing multiple times dating back to Aug. 15.
The report states that the victim recognized Oliver as a regular on train #115, adding that he usually rode the train on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays before disembarking at Glenside Station. From Sept. 4 through Sept.14, transit police boarded train #115 at Pennbrook Station multiple times in order to locate the suspect, but each search ended with negative results.
Then, on Sept. 17, the victim called transit police stating that Oliver was once again next to her on the train, again masturbating next to her while watching pornography on his phone. The following day, multiple transit officers boarded train #115 at Pennbrook Station, where they allegedly encountered Oliver slouched down in his seat, masturbating while viewing media on his phone. The report adds that Oliver became startled by a passenger a short time later, and quickly covered his lap.
Oliver disembarked the train at Glenside Station, at which point transit police followed him off of the train and identified themselves, the report states. Police state that they explained their reason for stopping him, asked if he would like to make a statement, to which he replied “yes.” Oliver then reportedly met with transit police on Sept. 20 for an interview, at which point he allegedly confessed to “frequently masturbating and watching pornography aboard the train while other passengers were present.”
Oliver had his preliminary arraignment in front of Magisterial District Judge Ed Levine on Oct. 18, who set bail at $10,000 unsecured. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 31 at 2:30 p.m. in front of Judge Levine.
(Editor's note: All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. Should the defendant choose to issue a public statement, or is later found not guilty or has the charges dropped, we will update this article accordingly.)
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