photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured Monday, Aug. 17, 2026.

A Douglas County jury on Tuesday found a 64-year-old man guilty of lewd and lascivious behavior after several witnesses testified that the man had publicly masturbated at an apartment complex’s swimming pool in the presence of a minor.

Jay Janicke’s attorneys from the Public Defenders Office had tried to persuade the jury of six men and six women that Janicke had innocently been “adjusting himself” while he was drunk, but jurors unanimously rejected that claim and found beyond a reasonable doubt that Janicke had committed the felony offense.

The trial began Monday morning in Judge Amy Hanley’s courtroom and was over shortly after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, when the verdict was read. Jurors deliberated just under two and a half hours.

The crime occurred on June 20, 2022, at The Rockland apartment complex on West 24th Street.

Witnesses who were at the pool that day testified that they had observed him making masturbatory motions beneath a towel on his lap in the presence of — and while staring at — a 12-year-old girl in a bikini. Testimony also indicated that Janicke’s penis became exposed at some point. Witnesses were adamant that the motions could in no way be mistaken for simple “adjusting.”

Judge Hanley scheduled Janicke to be sentenced on Nov. 19.