{"id":715605,"date":"2026-06-05T00:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T00:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715605\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T00:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T00:18:09","slug":"just-very-much-needs-help-indecent-exposure-case-prompts-mental-health-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715605\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Just very much needs help’: Indecent exposure case prompts mental health discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 A Swannanoa man accused of following women in multiple areas of Asheville made his first court appearance<\/a> on Thursday, June 4, for the case that includes a long criminal history, in which mental health concerns were brought up.<\/p>\n

Michael Matthew Murphy Jr. is facing five counts of indecent exposure<\/a> and one count of an open-container alcohol violation. He was arrested on Wednesday June 3, following an investigation by Asheville police.<\/p>\n

During the hearing, Judge Julie Kepple said she was inclined to raise his bond, which was originally set at $1,000. Court records show that it has, since, been raised to $10,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve been charged with one, two, three, four, five counts of indecent exposures,\u201d Kepple said.<\/p>\n

Court records show Murphy Jr. is accused of exposing himself to multiple people in Asheville. The judge also noted prior convictions, saying that in North Carolina alone, he has six indecent exposure convictions dating back to 2010.<\/p>\n

‘CREEPING UP BEHIND THEM’: WITNESS SAYS MAN FOLLOWED 20+ WOMEN IN ASHEVILLE<\/a><\/p>\n

The judge said that his criminal history, along with records from Georgia and Florida, factored into the decision to raise bond.<\/p>\n

One Asheville resident, Lindsey Guilliams, said she was among those targeted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was super repulsive and it made me really angry because I just moved back here. This is my hometown and this is not what Asheville is,\u201d Guilliams said. \u201cI got like four messages, maybe five, of other women saying, \u2018I saw that guy, a similar thing happened to me.\u2019\u201d\"JUNE<\/p>\n

JUNE 3, 2026 – William Downing of Asheville says he saw a man follow more than 20 women in an Asheville parking lot and helped police track him down. (Photo credit: William Downing)<\/p>\n

Guilliams said she is glad the bond was increased, but hopes the case leads to greater accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I just hope that we continue to speak up and report this kind of behavior and come together,\u201d Gulliams said.<\/p>\n

The case has also highlighted concerns about mental health and repeat offenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is definitely somebody we\u2019d like to see get help for this. Obviously, there\u2019s always concern that it could escalate into something else, but I think this is something somebody just very much needs help,\u201d said Asheville Police Department Capt. Joseph Silberman.<\/p>\n

POLL: HAVE YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW EXPERIENCED DIFFICULTY ACCESSING MENTAL HEALTH CARE?<\/a><\/p>\n

News 13 spoke with Operation Gateway, a local nonprofit that works to provide mental health support to formerly incarcerated individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be very loud about mental health because mental health is health,\u201d said founder Philip Cooper.<\/p>\n

Cooper said mental health resources exist in the county but are not always well-known.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to talk about what\u2019s available, post it on social media, talk about it in hair salons, talk about it in barbershops,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

He added that the most important step is ensuring people feel comfortable seeking help.<\/p>\n

Operation Gateway provided News13 with this list of resources:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 A Swannanoa man accused of following women in multiple areas of Asheville made his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":["post-715605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}