Crime Blotter: Alleged Outhouse 'Peeping Tom' Has Romantic Defense

July 22, 2005 -- -- An alleged outhouse "Peeping Tom" says he was only searching for his wedding ring; a man is caught with women's underwear; and a radio caller who bragged about a bank robbery pleads guilty in court. "The Crime Blotter" is back, and it's light on the talk and heavy on the crime and misdemeanors.

CONWAY, N.H. -- A man arrested after being found in the sewage tank of an outhouse says he was only looking for his wedding ring.

Gary Moody, 45, pleaded not guilty on July 18 to trespassing and disorderly conduct for his arrest in June after a teenage girl noticed him looking at her from the depths of a toilet seat. In court documents, police reported that Moody insisted he was not doing anything wrong and had gone into the sewage tank to retrieve a wedding ring he had accidentally dropped while changing clothes.

"He told me that he was changing clothes when he dropped his wedding ring into he toilet," Carroll County Sheriff's Capt. Jon Herbert wrote in his report. "He said the ring was very valuable and he did not want to return home without it."

Police said they examined the sewage and did not find a wedding ring. Moody, Herbert wrote, said he lowered himself directly through the toilet opening to search for the ring and tried to hide out of embarrassment when he heard someone enter the outhouse.

County law enforcement officials said they do not know how long Moody was in the sewage tank but they had to decontaminate him before his formal arrest.

BILLINGS, Mont. -- A man is accused of breaking into a female acquaintance's home to steal her shoes and underwear.

Police say Jesse Leggett, 31, broke into a woman's home through her kitchen window on July 15. Leggett was arrested outside her residence, and authorities say they found the woman's shoes and underwear in his car.