KENNEWICK, WA -- After a sex sting in Columbia Park three months ago we went back to find out how the cases unfolded. For one, Robert Gudgel said he was innocent and just taking a nature walk.

"I was just taking a hike on the nature trail like I do several times a week," he said, during a previous interview on July 10."

The truth is, three months after he was arrested in Columbia Park for exposing himself to an undercover Kennewick officer, he plead guilty.

"The city attorney's office has taken those cases very seriously," Kennewick Assistant City Attorney Eric Eisinger said.

Of the twelve men arrested for lewd conduct alongside Gudgel, half plead guilty too. And Einsinger said the majority of these cases end that way. Violators serve jail time, are slapped with fines, and if convicted, banned from the park for at least a year, sometimes more.

"It's important to send home the case that this behavior is unwanted and wrong," Eisinger said.

But I found jail time can mean just a few hours. And fines? A couple hundred bucks. Plus, violators often make a plea deal in exchange for a deferred sentence. That means if they stay out of the park for a certain time the crime will be wiped off their record.

"Are you satisfied with these pleas?" Action News asked "Yes, absolutely. In the vast majority of cases we've had a violator take responsibility for what they've done," Eisinger said.

Eisinger said the challenge of going to trial is proof. Sex stings are set up by undercover officers who don't close the deal, so to speak, when a man propositions for sex acts in a public place. Officers can prove that a person took several strong steps toward sex. But It means, most cases are proving attempted acts.

"And that's all a matter of degree and there's a bit of difficulty in proving that," Eisinger said.

Plus, he said, even one day of jail enough of a deterrent for most people accused of lewd conduct. And police are adement about keeping those who've been convicted out of the park to keep you safe.

Attorneys said they also consider criminal history. Most of the time, these men don't have any run-ins with the law and that does play a part in sentencing. Of the other cases, one's set for trial next month, a few are pending, one case was dismissed.