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 William Masters — glumly pleaded guilty today to masturbating in front of park-goers 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 only the sex-research scion hadn’t repeatedly kept his hands to himself.
Under a previous deal, Masters’ park perversion charges — for his handiwork near the Ramble at 9:15 on a Wednesday morning — were going to be dismissed entirely.
But Manhattan prosecutors pulled that deal when Masters got rearrested for pleasuring himself in front of a pair of female kayakers — who were actually undercover cops — near his family estate in Michigan in September.
Today, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Michelle Armstrong told Masters that for the next six months, he must continue mental health counseling and not get arrested a third time.
If he fails, he’ll get up to ninety days jail, the judge said.
Masters, 60, a former Good Morning America producer from Southampton, LI, 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, telling reporters that Masters has been in counseling at least since his May arrest on Central Park’s East Drive.
“He’s a decent person. He a person of integrity and he’s a person with some problems. He’s trying to deal with a difficult an painful situation in exactly the right way.”
Masters’ case in Huron County, MI, remains pending.