Virginia Beach VA May 23 2013 A retired Virginia Beach firefighter who won brief local fame in the 1990s for riding his lawn mower and doing other yard work in the nude at his Suffolk home is now facing more than 50 sexual assault charges.Robert Vance Gallup, 60, has been indicted by grand juries in both Suffolk and Virginia Beach on charges of assaults between 1976 and 1986. He was charged in Virginia Beach on May 8 and is being held at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail without bond.
Gallup was a Virginia Beach firefighter from 1983 until he retired in 2004, according to a city spokesman.
Over the years, he repeatedly made headlines for appearing nude in public.
The Pilot reported in 1990 that Gallup was charged with indecent exposure for mowing his lawn in the buff.
He had searched for years for an isolated spot where he could live and practice nudity, according to an article, and settled on a house near Whaleyville.
"Why should we be ashamed of our bodies?' one story quoted him as saying. "What else do we see in society that we are ashamed of? Only one natural creation, the human body."
A judge dismissed the charges.
News stories and court records show he was arrested on charges of public nudity several times through the late 1990s. They show that most times, he was nude outside his home, in view of passers-by.
In 1998, he appealed a public nudity conviction, saying he never intended to expose himself to others. The Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, according to an article.
The recent sexual assault charges total 54 between Suffolk and Virginia Beach and include forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual battery of a child age 13 to 15, and indecent liberties with a child.
Virginia Beach police said a victim contacted officers more than a year ago and reported he had been sexually abused numerous times during the mid-1970s and mid-1980s. A joint investigation with Suffolk police led to the indictments.
Gallup is due to appear in Suffolk Circuit Court again on May 28, and Virginia Beach Circuit Court again on May 30, according to online records.
Virginia Beach police said Gallup lives in Suffolk, but Suffolk court records list addresses in Virginia Beach and Lexington.
Virginia Beach detectives ask anyone with information about this case or with additional information to call the Detective Bureau at 835-4101.
source- pilotonline.com