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Do you remember Ty Herndon being arrested for public indecency when he propositioned a Fort Worth police officer?

COUNTRY MUSIC STATIONS HAVE BEEN CALLING TY Herndon’s phone number just to hear his answering machine. “I’m going to be away for about a month here, dealing with personal problems,” the Texas singing sensation says on one message. “As for the charges that were brought against me, that’s absolutely a bunch of [expletive].... The moral of the story is, don’t take a leak in the woods, ‘cause it can get you arrested.”

The Fort Worth police beg to differ. On June 13 they arrested Herndon, 33, for allegedly exposing himself to a male undercover cop in Fort Worth’s Gateway Park, a spot notorious for public lewdness and male prostitution. They are also charging Herndon with possession of a controlled substance—the 2.49 grams of methamphetamine they say they found in his wallet.

This is hardly the kind of exposure the handsome country crooner was looking for. After years of struggling to make his way to the top, Herndon seemed on the verge of a breakthrough. His heart-tugging single “What Mattered Most” spent a week at No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart, and his album of the same name is No. 14. Country music insiders were touting him as the next Garth Brooks.

Now the cops are touting him as something else. According to the police report, a plainclothes vice officer spotted Herndon at 7:20 p.m., walking alone in the park. When the two men passed each other, Herndon waved to the officer, went down a trail and sat on a log. The officer followed him and drew him into conversation. When the officer asked Herndon, “What do you like to do?” the singer, according to the report, proceeded to open his shorts and masturbate. At this point, the officer identified himself and made the arrest.