Man identified as Haverford Township teacher is twice accused of lewd acts in public, months apart

HAVERFORD TWP., Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — The superintendent of the School District of Haverford Township, in a letter this week, told students’ families that she has just learned that a district teacher was arrested a couple of months ago having twice been accused of exposing himself and performing lewd acts in public.

Superintendent Dr. Maureen Reusche identified Matthew Gagat, a fifth grade teacher at Lynnewood Elementary School, as the man accused of indecent exposure.

Reusche said she learned just this week about the two incidents — the first, reported in March in Montgomery County, and the second, reported in June in Bucks County.

KYW Newsradio has contacted Gagat’s attorney and the school district to find out why so much time had passed before district officials became aware of the allegations against Gagat.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the Horsham Police Department, officers were called to Whitemarsh Memorial Park, a cemetery in Ambler, on March 3. People out walking their dog told investigators that they saw a man inappropriately exposing himself. They said at first it appeared he was urinating.

Then, they told police, they saw him following a woman, while engaging in a lewd act.

The officers approached the man and, according to the affidavit, a man identified as Matthew Gagat told officers he was urinating by a tree and was walking through the cemetery to clear his mind.

Gagat drew further attention from authorities a few months later in Bucks County. According to a separate criminal complaint, on June 27, someone called the Perkasie Borough Police Department to a park, where a woman gave officers a description of a man who was staring at her while he was engaged in a lewd act.

They found a man matching her description, who police identified in the report as Gagat.

He has a preliminary hearing coming up in Bucks County.