Metro

Jerky ‘sex scion’ cops to Central Park lewdness

His gripping Central Park saga is finally over.

Emmy-winning TV news producer William “Howie” Masters III — son of the famous Masters and Johnson sex researcher — glumly pleaded guilty yesterday to masturbating in front of parkgoers last May.

The plea keeps Masters out of jail, but leaves him with a misdemeanor record for public lewdness — an outcome that could have been avoided if the sex-research scion could have kept his hands off himself.

Under a previous deal, Masters’ park-perversion charges — for his handiwork near the Ramble — were going to be dismissed.

But Manhattan prosecutors yanked that deal when Masters was rearrested for pleasuring himself in front of two women in a kayak — who were actually undercover cops — near his family estate in Michigan in September.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Michelle Armstrong told Masters that, for the next six months, he must continue mental-health counseling and not be arrested a third time.

If he fails, he’ll get up to 90 days jail, the judge said.

Masters, 60, a former “Good Morning America” producer, declined comment as he left court hand-in-hand with his wife, Victoria. Before he left the building, he had his mouth swabbed so that his DNA can be added to the state crime registry.

“He needs help,” said his lawyer, Irwin Rochman.