Penn State professor on video nearly nude crawling around park, masturbating, police say
A longtime and award-winning Penn State professor was charged Monday after dozens of videos showed him performing sexual acts in Rothrock State Forest, the same place he was caught on camera last year enticing a dog to lick his anus.
Themis Matsoukas, 64, of Patton Township, was accused of recording himself masturbating and performing other sexual acts while in public.
Five videos showed Matsoukas nearly nude, except for a scarf, sunglasses and a ski mask as he crawled on a porch swing and picnic table, state police at Huntingdon wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
Other videos showed Matsoukas rub his genitals on a porch railing before skinny-dipping and masturbating in a pond, police wrote.
He was also accused of leaving bodily fluids on equipment regularly used by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. In one video, Matsoukas ejaculated on a picnic table, a ranger wrote in a charging document.
He was charged Monday with 22 crimes, including counts of burglary, indecent exposure and open lewdness. He was arraigned by Huntingdon County District Judge Douglas Gummo, who released him on $50,000 unsecured bail.
Defense lawyer Matt McClenahen wrote in a text message to the Centre Daily Times that it would be “inappropriate for me to comment at this time outside of court.”
Each of the videos on Matsoukas’ iPads were uncovered as part of the investigation that unfolded when he was caught on camera performing the sex act with his dog.
Huntingdon County District Attorney Dave Smith intimated Monday no other charges are expected to be filed since no other videos have been uncovered.
“To my knowledge, we’re satisfied that the investigation is complete with regard to the filing of additional charges,” Smith said.
The former professor of chemical engineering — who earned his Ph.D. from Michigan — had been with Penn State since 1991. During that time, he’d written several books, published dozens of journal articles and won at least three teaching awards, including the Premier Teaching Award from the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society in 2017.
A Penn State spokesperson said Monday he was “relieved of his responsibilities and has been put on leave,” the same statement the university released after he was charged in June.
Matsoukas, according to the rangers who served a search warrant at his Centre County home, was “visibly nervous” and repeatedly told them “I’m done, I’m dead, you don’t understand, I do it to blow off steam.”
Prosecutors filed five charges against him, including a misdemeanor count of sexual intercourse with an animal. McClenahen asked a Huntingdon County judge to toss the charge, arguing Matsoukas’ reputation has “already been severely damaged as a result of being improperly charged with a crime that does not fit the allegations.”
Smith disagreed, writing any other interpretation of state law would be “absurd.” A judge has not yet ruled. There is no deadline, but Smith said a decision could be issued “any day now.”
His preliminary hearing for the latest charges is scheduled for Feb. 21.
