A couple was charged with public indecency after allegedly having sex in a restroom stall in Dollar General Market in Harriman.  A police officer was summoned to the store and, according to the report, he saw through a crack in the restroom stall a man sitting on the toilet and a woman standing next to the man with nothing on but a top and panties.  The two were taken in and charged with Public Indecency Indecent Exposure.

However, after seeing many comments from readers on whether or not it was illegal to have sex in a public restroom, we decided to research Tennessee Law.   The question is whether the inside of a restroom stall is considered ‘public’ and should offer the occupants a reasonable expectation of privacy.  The Tennessee law states “Public place” does not include enclosed single sex public restrooms, enclosed single sex functional showers, locker or dressing room facilities,” READ THE FULL LAW HERE.  The man who was charged, identified as Dennis Isham, denies everything, saying none of it happened at all.  Even though the law indicates the restroom stall is ‘not a public place’ for being able to ‘see’ someone performing sex, one would have to wonder if that includes ‘audibly being heard by the public’.  Even though a couple may not be seen while concealed in a stall, there is the possibility of the two being ‘heard’ having sex by anyone else in the restroom.  Would simply ‘hearing’ sexual activity by the public be considered ‘indecent’?  That is not addressed by the Indecent Exposure law.  Naturally, whether or not the couple actually broke the law does not preclude any store policy which would prohibit such action.  While the store certainly had a right to have the couple removed  from the premises, there still remains a question of whether or not an actual law was broken.  The couple was also charged with simple possession of drugs after a Oxymorphone Hydrochloride pill fell out of the woman’s purse during the arrest.