An Ocean County man convicted on an obscenity charge for watching porn videos on his iPad while sitting in his car outside a fast-food restaurant during the dinner rush has lost a legal battle to overturn his conviction.

David J. Lomanto, 53, of Little Egg Harbor Township, was arrested on April 22, 2014, by township police and held on $20,000 bail after a woman parked next to him saw him watching porn on his tablet with his windows lowered.

The woman, whose 12-year-old son had gone into the restaurant for food, said she could see Lomanto’s iPad resting against the steering wheel and saw there was “porn going on the video.” Specifically, the woman saw images of a man and woman having sex and “heard moaning on the video,” according to court documents.

The woman said she was shocked because they live in a small town and she “never experienced anything like that in her life,” according to court documents.

After leaving the area with her son – who did not see the porn – the woman told a friend, who notified a police officer.

A Little Egg Harbor Township police officer arrived at the parking lot about 8:20 p.m. – nearly two hours after the woman had been there with her son – and found Lomanto still in his car, watching porn on his tablet, court records state.

When the officer told Lomanto someone had complained, he quickly closed out of the screen on his tablet. But another screen popped up that had “girls or women” and “live interaction,” according to the officer.

Lomanto at first refused to get out of his car, then repeatedly refused to show the officer his license or other identification. He was arrested and taken to the local police station, where he was charged with obstruction, according to court records.

A police computer expert later obtained a search warrant for Lomanto’s tablet and found that Lomanto had been watching porn for about four hours that night and had been using the restaurant’s WiFi to stream the videos, court records state.

In April 2015, Lomanto was indicted a charge of fourth-degree public communication of obscenity and obstructing a criminal investigation. In May 2017, a jury convicted him on those charges and the trial judge also found Lomanto guilty of disorderly conduct.

Lomanto was sentenced to two concurrent one-year terms of probation and five days in jail, which he had already served.

In appealing his conviction, Lomanto argued that the definition of “publicly communicates” in the obscenity law is overly broad “as it ensnares innocent individuals engaged in lawful behavior.”

Lomanto also argued that watching porn in the privacy of his car is protected under the U.S. Constitution.

In denying the appeal, Superior Court Judge Garry Rothstadt rejected Lomanto’s claim that watching pornography in his car with windows lowered during dinner time at a restaurant is protected under the constitution.

“While our courts have repeatedly acknowledged an individual’s privacy interest in the contents of their automobile, we have never extended the zone of privacy to what occurs inside a car that is plain view,” Rothstadt wrote.

The three-judge panel also rejected Lomanto’s arguments that his iPad was illegally searched and that the trial judge should have suppressed other evidence in the case.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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