The former co-owner of the now-closed Dell Lanes bowling alley in Surrey has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for indecent exposure.

Thomas Charles Cooper, 54, was sentenced in Surrey provincial court Thursday (Sept. 12).

Cooper was found guilty on May 15 after a two-day hearing in Surrey provincial court. He had been charged with committing an indecent act in a public place after two women reported that a man had exposed himself to them in Guildford Shopping Centre on July 4, 2022.

During the hearing, Cooper had claimed the exposure was accidental, but Judge Jennifer Lopes called his evidence "rehearsed," "fanciful" and "unreliable."

A small crowd gathered outside the court Thursday for his sentencing hearing. They were wearing teal ribbons, which are a sign of support for sexual assault survivors, holding signs which read #MeToo, We never asked for it, No Means No and chanting "no more victims." 

Cooper hid his face from the crowd as he entered the courthouse Thursday morning before sentencing. 

Both the Crown and defence recommended a straight 90-day sentence, a recommendation accepted by the judge. Lopes found Cooper's act to have been a "deliberate" exposure, noting the impact on the victims.

This is not Cooper's first conviction. 

In 2014, he pleaded guilty to sexual interference in connection to an incident that happened at Dell Lanes the year before. In February 2013, Cooper had given a 15-year-old girl a shoulder massage, which progressed into fondling her breasts. The incident ended when someone else entered the room.

He was sentenced in August 2014 to a that was served on the weekends.

More to come.

- with files from Tracy Holmes