Voyeur sentenced to two years probation for secret videotapes of woman, girl

An Uwchlan, PA man was sentenced to two years probation for recording a nude woman and a clothed girl at his home April 1, 2011. The sentencing of David W. Geipel, 37, was for invasion of privacy and disorderly conduct, and took place in Chester County (PA) Common Pleas Court under Judge Judge Anthony Sarcione.

According to Kubacke and the police complaint filed in the case, the recordings were discovered after Geipel's wife, Michele Geipel, called a close friend last spring and told her that she had discovered a computer's external hard drive with videos on it showing the friend's pre-teen daughter wearing a bathing suit in the bathroom.

Michele Geipel also told the friend, whose name is being withheld to protect her daughter's identity, that she had also seen on the hard drive a video of a mutual friend who had been staying at the Geipels' house using the shower. The video showed her naked.

After talking to the girl's mother on April 15, Uwchlan Police Detective Phillip Owen obtained a search warrant for the Geipel's home and seized as many as 10 computers, according to Ramsay. Owen turned the electronics over to the Chester County Detective's Computer Forensics Unit, which extracted videos, including those described by Michele Geipel.

Because the girl recorded was clothed, Geipel could not be charged with a crime according to Pennsylvania law. The invasion of privacy charge referred only to the adult victim.  Because invasion of privacy and disorderly conduct is a 3rd degree misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail, Geipel was able to apply for Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) for first time offenders. He was turned down.

Besides two years probation, the cameras and computers used to record then store the indecent images were forfeited to the Uwchlan Police Department. Geipel was ordered to undergo psychosexual evaluations, and not to contact the grown victim, the child victim, or the child's mother.

Fresno insurance company owner sentenced to 10 days jail, 4 years probation for peeping on female employee

A Fresno, CA boss was sentenced to 10 days jail, 20 days in a work program and four years probation Wednesday, January 26 for taking indecent photos of one of his female employees in December 2009. 51 year old insurance company owner Wellman Shew was convicted of misdemeanor peeping after he was found with "disturbing" images on his work computer. If Shew violates his probation, he will be sent to prison and the four years he is scheduled to spend on the sex offender registry will become life.

Police later searched Shew's business on North Cedar Avenue near Alluvial Avenue and found a video that showed a female employee using the restroom. Police said officers also found a fake plant on top of the toilet with a secret compartment and two boxes with holes on the side.

In court Wednesday, [prosecutor Tim]Galstan, a deputy district attorney, informed the judge that there could be multiple victims, because Shew had told police that he was not fixated on just the victim in this case. "I just kind of rotate from people to people," Shew said, according to Galstan.

Just before sentencing, Shew told Judge Dennis Peterson in Fresno County Superior Court that his actions stemmed from a porn addiction, and "Hopefully, she will find in her heart to forgive me." Defense attorney Michael Idiart said that his client has tried to make amends by attending marital counseling, paying a civil settlement, and that "He accepts his punishment and wants to move forward."

The victim also made a statment to the court, asking Judge Peterson to make her peeper register as a sex offender. "Knowledge is power - I want future employees to know what he did." Peterson, when announcing his sentence, cited the vulnerability of the victim and the "sophistication and planning" of the unlawful recording.

Stalker of ESPN Reporter gets 2 1/2 years in federal prison

LOS ANGELES -- An Illinois insurance executive who secretly shot nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews was sentenced Monday to 2-1/2 years in prison after giving a tearful apology that was harshly rebuked by his victim.

Michael David Barrett pleaded guilty in December to interstate stalking after prosecutors accused him of following the reporter to at least three cities and shooting the videos through hotel peepholes. Barrett, 48, of suburban Chicago, agreed to a 27-month prison sentence after pleading guilty but it was up to the judge to decide how long he would actually serve.

Andrews urged the judge at the hearing for a harsher sentence and said she fears for her life every time she enters a hotel. "You violated me and you violated all women," Andrews told Barrett. "You are a sexual predator, a sexual deviant and they should lock you up." After the sentencing, she said, "Thirty months isn't enough."

Barrett admitted renting hotel rooms next to Andrews three times and shooting two videos of her while she was naked. He was accused of posting the videos online and trying to sell them to Los Angeles-based celebrity gossip site TMZ last year.

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real said he gave Barrett the maximum sentence under the law. "The victim, Andrews, will be suffering with this problem for the rest of her life," Real said. "There is no life sentence that can be imposed upon him, except his own guilt."

Barrett cried as he addressed Andrews in court, saying he would spend the rest of his life regaining the respect of his friends and family and atoning for his mistakes. "There are no words to tell Ms. Andrews how sorry I am for what I've done to her," he said. "I hope someday she can forgive me."

Andrews, visibly nervous as she spoke, said she had no sympathy for Barrett's claim he was publicly humiliated. "It's my body on the Internet," she said. "I'm being traumatized every single day for what he did.... This will never be over for me."

Barrett, who has until May 3 to surrender, was ordered to have supervised probation for three years after his release, during which he will be prohibited from contacting Andrews, her family or friends.

He will not be allowed to stay in a hotel without approval of a probation officer and if he accepts employment somewhere, Andrews will be notified. Barrett was also ordered to pay $5,000 in fines and $7,366 in restitution, but the judge said further restitution may be imposed to compensate ESPN.

Barrett's lawyer, David Willingham, said his client is undergoing psychological treatment and "has sought the path of redemption. Mr. Barrett has lost everything he built throughout his life," Willingham said. "He's lost his career, his fiancee and his life savings. He knows that he brought this on himself."

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have agreed not to pursue further charges against Barrett. However, he could face criminal action in other states stemming from other videos he allegedly shot of unsuspecting nude women through peepholes.

Andrews' attorney, Marshall Grossman, has said there could be as many as a dozen other women that Barrett taped. A sentencing memo filed last month in federal court says Barrett uploaded videos of 16 other women to an online account.

Barrett also allegedly conducted 30 Internet background checks that can produce birthdays and home addresses, the document said. The filing did not name the other alleged victims or say what information he obtained or how he may have used it. Prosecutors claim that 32 videos provided by DailyMotion.com show Barrett "victimized approximately 16 other women in almost precisely the same way that he victimized" Andrews. They did not identify the women.

Andrews testified in December that Barrett's actions had a devastating impact on her and her family because she is constantly reminded that his videos appeared online and is subjected to cruel taunts from sports fans when she works as a sideline reporter.

Andrews has agreed to appear on the new season of ABC-TV's "Dancing with the Stars" -- an offer she said ABC made before the stalking allegations. She said she doesn't want to seclude herself from the public eye because other victims would get the wrong message.

"I did nothing wrong. Just trying to live my life," she said. "I had to deal with a lot of people who said I deserved it, that I had played to a certain audience." Her attorney said she will not file a lawsuit against Barrett.

Repeat voyeur sentenced to 12 years, sex offender treatment

Posted: August 15, 2009 [Indianapolis Star]

A Marion Superior Court judge Friday sentenced a repeated Peeping Tom to 12 years in prison and two years in community corrections.

William Newhouse, 51, was accused of spying into a woman'sbedroom several times from September to February in an apartment complex on Indianapolis' Far Southside. He pleaded guilty to all counts against him, including two counts of burglary, voyeurism, stalking and public indecency.

Newhouse broke into a screened-in porch adjacent to the woman's bedroom, according to charging documents.

He had three previous voyeurism or trespassing convictions, Deputy Prosecutor Eric Schmadeke said. Judge Kurt Eisgruber gave Newhouse a 24-year sentence, suspending 10 years. Newhouse also will be put on probation for three years and was ordered to get sex-offender treatment.

Father helps catch peeper at college bathroom

(Original Post 5-2-08)

A voyeur who took pictures of women in the bathroom at Santa Fe Community College was arrested after an 18 year old student noticed feet in the stall next to her and she told her father.

The woman's father told police that he saw a man walking out of the women's restroom just before his daughter came out. He followed the man to his car and wrote down the license plate.
Police said that voyeurism just became a crime in New Mexico in the last year.

James McDow, of Glorieta, was charged with voyeurism. It became a crime last year in New Mexico, and that many voyeurs progress to more serious sex crimes, according to Sheriff Greg Solano.

"A lot of these type of voyeurism cases progress on to things like rape and other sexual crimes. So, this allows us to catch on to them before they progress onto larger felonies."

(Update 12-27-08) On December 10, McDow was sentenced to 364 days of supervised probation, and banned from schools and libraries. State District Judge Stephen Pfeffer also ordered alcohol and drug testing 3 times a week.

Serial British voyuer breaches sex offender order 3rd time

Garry Willey, Evening Chronicle

SERIAL sex pest Andrew Mackie took more secret snapshots of women shoppers – just weeks after finishing a jail term.

The sleazy voyeur, now branded “perverted” by a Tyneside judge, was given a Sex Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) as long ago as October 2006.

Part of the order forbid Mackie, of Washington, from having any mobile fitted with a camera.
The ban was aimed at finally ending the 37 year old’s obsession with targeting unsuspecting women in public – taking photos of their bottoms and up their skirts.

But in April this year he was jailed for five months for a second SOPO breach.

And although he was released in June with the order still running, he was caught snapping more women at The Galleries, Washington, in July, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Mackie, who has previous convictions for indecent assault and threatening behaviour as well as voyeurism, admitted a third SOPO breach.

Only a detailed report saying probation officers still believed they could work with him in the community saved him from another immediate prison term.

“You are an obsessive voyeur,” Judge Guy Whitburn told him. “You take photographs of women who are unaware of you photographing them for your own sexual gratification.

“The fact of the matter is you engage in these weird, perverted acts. It is the most curious form of perversion, but perversion it certainly is.”

Mackie, who has spent 26 days in custody since his arrest, was given a nine-month jail term, suspended for 36 weeks with supervision.

He must also attend a probation-run sex offender group programme due to begin next month. The SOPO remains in force.

“It is an order of the court,” Judge Whitburn warned. “It must be obeyed.”
Mackie is now anxious to change his barrister, Lee Fish told the court.

“He now knows, having spent some time in custody, what will happen if he continues to flagrantly breach this order,” Mr Fish added.

“The defendant readily accepts the help probation can provide him with and he is ready to take advantage of that.”

Mackie was seen in The Galleries bus station repeatedly pressing a button on a mobile he was carrying, said Sarah Guest, prosecuting. A witness realised he was taking a photograph of a female wearing a low top and kept looking at other women, the court heard.

He was arrested and accepted he had been taking photographs of women even though he knew he was not allowed to use a camera phone, Ms Guest told the court.

Spokane security guard pleads guilty to peeping on women using Homeland Security cameras

Darin Earl Wanless, a 33 year old security guard at the federal courthouse complex in downtown Spokane, pled guilty to a single count of felony voyeurism for incidents last year when he watched women undressing. He ogled a woman inside condoes and a second victim inside a hotel. He originally faced 4 counts of voyeurism last August, and is scheduled to be sentenced to a jail range of between 0 and 90 days in jail (not prison) by Spokane County Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno.

“We’ve got boobies!” Wanless exclaimed while watching one of the women, according to court documents. The charging documents name the women involved, but The Spokesman-Review does not generally name victims of sex crimes.

Federal investigators who reviewed recordings from the security camera between May 15 and June 11 last year determined that Wanless made inappropriate use of the cameras on 22 other occasions, court documents say. The rooftop cameras, including four on each corner of the post office, are controlled from the adjoining U.S. Courthouse, and the images they capture are reviewable.

Department of Homeland Security funds paid for the digital cameras. A senior law enforcement official had previously told the newspaper the cameras are so powerful they can be used to count ice cubes in a tumbler in an adjoining building.

Secure Solutions LLC, under contract with Federal Security Services, a division of ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) to provide security for the federal complex (including the courthouse and post office, fired Wanless after a fellow security guard reported him.

Lorie Dankers, Pacific Northwest spokeswoman for ICE, held Wanless as an example of what not to do when behind the surveillance camera. “He’s an example of what you should not do. That’s been underscored since this incident.”

Wanless was ordered to serve 3 years supervision, pay $500 to a victims’ compensation fund, and register as a sex offender for the next 10 years by Judge Moreno. One of the victims will read her victim impact statement at next month’s sentencing. The prosecutor was Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Kelly A. Fitzgerald.

Voyeurism case dropped due to poor wording of law - public places are not protected, but perp sentenced on disorderly conduct charge anyway

(Original Post 5-11-08)
Brian Presken, 32, of Pensacola, is filing a motion to get his misdemeanor voyeurism conviction overturned because of the legal argument that people do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in public places. The former teacher allegedly placed a mirror under a woman's skirt at a Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Pensacola last summer.

Presken is suspected of looking under the woman's skirt July 8 at Barnes & Nobles Booksellers on Airport Boulevard in Pensacola.

Here is what, according to a police report, happened:

The woman was slightly bent forward browsing bookshelves when she noticed a flash of light. She said she thought Presken had taken a picture of her. The Pensacola woman said she noticed another flash of light, and when she turned around, Presken's hand was beneath the opening of her skirt, and there was something in his hand.

The woman screamed, and Presken retreated. The woman caught up to Presken, confronted him and called police.Someone in the store found a mirror on a shelf and gave it to police.
Presken, who passed out while being questioned by police, told police he kept a mirror with him to check his appearance. The 26-year-old victim wouldn't comment on the motion.

Victim's advocates acknowledge that depending on how the laws are written, voyeurism charges can be overturned based of poor wording, and that laws need to be clear and concise.

"I guess what would really matters is the way the law in Florida is written," said Ilse Knecht, deputy director of public policy at the National Center for Victims of Crime in Washington, D.C. "It seems ridiculous, but we have to really, really be clear in laws about things like that because every single word gets evaluated, and it makes a difference."

In the motion, defense attorney Katheryne Snowden points out that the statute her client is charged under — 810.14 — doesn't define the phrase "reasonable expectation of privacy."
An analysis of the bill that eventually became law also noted that the phrase was not defined.
According to the motion, "No Florida court has addressed section 810.14 ... or the reasonable expectation of privacy therein." Snowden didn't return messages left at her office.

Since the phrase "resonable expectation of privacy" is undefined, that gives plenty of wiggle room for defendants and their lawyers to fight voyeurism charges. The Florida statute criminalizing video voyeurism gives places where a reasonable expectation of privacy can be found as anyplace where a person can disrobe. Laws in other states have been overtured, and then re-written because defendants have sucessfully used the privacy argument.

In Washington, two men convicted in separate voyeurism cases used the privacy argument when they appealed their cases to their state's supreme court. In 2002, the court overturned the men's convictions, and state lawmakers ended up amending the state's law.

One of the men was accused of taking pictures under the skirts of two female employees at a mall. The other was suspected of videotaping under the skirts and dresses of women and girls at an event in Seattle.

The court said both men had engaged in reprehensible behavior, but the law they were charged under didn't apply to public places.

"They found that the way the law was written wasn't clear that a person should have an expectation of privacy under their clothes in public, which is ridiculous," Knecht said. "But (lawmakers) changed the law to be clear to give people that expectation of privacy."

Many states passed the laws in effort to combat "upskirting" and "downblousing" or the practice of secretly videotaping and taking photographs underneath women's skirts and dresses and down their blouses. The crimes have become more prevalent as cell phones have gotten smaller and more are equipped with cameras.

"It's kind of high-tech Peeping Tom," Knecht said.

Candy Carlisle, a spokeswoman at Cordova Mall, said the mall tries to safeguard customers against crimes like "upskirting" and "downblousing" by making sure security officers are as visible as possible.

She said the more security officers are seen throughout the mall, perhaps people will be less inclined to secretly photograph and videotape women.

Some pictures and videos taken under women's skirts and dresses end up on the Internet. A Google search of the terms upskirting and downblousing reveals thousands of Web sites.

"I think it's really disrespectful," said Heysi Barrientos, 20, who lives in Ensley. "Knowing people do that makes you think about wearing different kinds of clothes."

A victim of voyeurism tells how her life charged after the incident.

Sarah Spivey, 53, of Foley, Ala., was shopping at Books-A-Million in Pensacola last year when a man was accused of taking pictures under her dress. Faith Wilson, 43, of Pensacola, pleaded no contest in the case. Spivey said she had no idea the pictures had been taken until a store employee told her and she talked with police.

"My dress (reached) all the way down to my ankles," she said. "He had to do some contorting to get them."

Spivey said the incident has caused her to be more aware of her surroundings when she's in public.

"I was mortified," she said. "I thought I was safe in the bookstore."

Some victims of voyeurism refer to themselves as sexual assault victims, and some say they experience a feeling of always being watched, Knecht said.

"It's not just a kind of creepy thing," she said. "It actually has a real ramification for victims."

(Update 7-30-08) Presken's appeal of the voyeurism charge was allowed to go ahead, and on May 16, that charge was dropped, though the judge said it was reprehensible.

"As of this moment ... there is no clear prohibition of this reprehensible conduct anywhere in the laws of Florida, especially in the section under which the defendant was charged," Roark said in a May 16 order granting the motion.charge was dismissed as such.

However, prosecutors filed a disorderly conduct charge involving the same incident and charges on May 13. Defense attorney, Katheryne Snowden asked to have the latest charge dropped, which didn't happen.

Assistant State Attorney Adrienne Emerson asked for the maximum sentence for Presken - 60 days in jail, which the victim, a 26 year old woman, concurred with.

"I would have loved to have seen him get 60 days," she said.

However, Judge Roark sentenced Presken to 60 days of electronic monitoring and 6 months probation after he pleaded no contest to the disorderly conduct charge. Roark barred Presken from contact with the victim and her her family or with the bookstore, and banned him from entering Escambia County without permission.

"There is no answer to this situation. It's a very difficult situation for everyone involved, including the court," Judge roark said in closing.

Voyeur sentenced to 2 years probation for videotaping sex act with now ex-girlfriend

Casper Desfeux, a 21 year old Yale University student who plead guilty to showing four roommates a tape of himself having sex with his then girlfriend, will spend the next two years on probation as ordered by New Haven Superior Court Judge Philip A. Scarpellino.

The probation that Desfeux is on is called accelerated rehabilitation, for 1st time offenders. If Desfeux (or any other offender) completes two years of this sentence, the charges will be dismissed. Scarpellino denounced Desfeux's conduct.

"I think you should be ashamed of yourself. In this day and age when we're fighting for our privacy with cameras displayed everywhere, we don't need them in places where they shouldn't appear."

In sworn testimony Friday, Desfeux said he showed the video only to his four roommates and did not distribute it on the Internet. His attorney, William F. Dow III, said the incident was "an error of judgment by two young people."

Prosecutor David Strollo said the victim consented to Desfeux's receiving accelerated rehabilitation as long as he complied with a list of 13 conditions, including that she receive the sole copy of the video.Another condition allows Desfeux to get his computer back as long as any trace of the video is erased from the computer's hard drive. Desfeux told authorities he had schoolwork stored on the computer that he needed. "No evidence of the video shall ever be viewed again," Strollo said.

Desfeux has not been taking classes ever since the incident last fall. The woman learned about the voyeurism from one of his roommates.

Voyeur gets 90 days in jail, deportation for incident in Yakima mall

Jose Luis Mendoza Castaneda, 26, was sentenced to serve 90 days in jail for looking up the skirt of a Yakima Valley Macy's employee, but the sentence is moot because he has already served his time, and he's being deported to Mexico. The incident occured February 29, when a Macy's security guard watch Castaneda walk behing a 19 year old employee's skirt and placed his cell phone camera up her skirt. He pled guilty, and also faces sex offender registration, a requirement which is moot due to the pending deportation.

25 year old Shreveport man charged with video voyeurism

Douglas Chandler, 25, of Shreveport, LA, has been charged with 2 counts of video voyeurism as of May 30. Police expect more charges after a female told police that their sexual encounter had been filmed.

Even though Chandler was charged with two counts of video voyeurism, there are four victims which are known, and there are more tapes of the sexual encounters which have been believed to have been created than the tape seized.

Call Shreveport detectives at (318) 673-6955 or Crime Stoppers at (318) 673-7373 with any information.

NYC voyeur who zooms in on male crotches immune from prosecution

A 27 year old voyeur who likes to take films of male NYC subway riders cannot be prosecuted, according to legal experts. His "master[bation] pieces" are currently on the Internet and he's free to zoom into men's crotches as often as he wants.

"The bulge on him just brings so much to the imagination . . . and the fact that he was oblivious to my filming is so great," the 27- year-old filmmaker - who calls himself househead7d5 - gleefully recounts.

On another of his dozen clips, titled "sexy guy on 5 train," as the subway pulls into 86th Street, househead7d5 tilts up from the man's crotch, briefly, to his face.
"See this guy, and he sees me back," says the description.

Because the voyeur focuses on clothed crotches, already on display on the subway, and because he's not making money off of his deviancy, no charges can be filed or arrests made, according to legal experts.

Repeat peeper rearrested on similar charges

Bruce E. Weese, 52, a voyeur previously convicted of the crime, was ordered held on misdemeanor video voyeurism charges for taping up the skirt of a visiting airline stewardess at a Bealls Department Store on the north side of St. Petersburg. He also faces charges for the same behavior, but with a 11 year old girl. It looks like he'll just miss felony charges, since a bill making peeping on minors a felony is sitting on the Florida Governor's desk. The incident involving the women occurred April 5.

The victim — a woman in her 30s from Illinois visiting relatives — was unaware of what Weese was doing, but security guards had seen him behaving oddly outside the store, authorities said. Weese left before security guards could arrest him.

Weese also is suspected of going into the women's bathroom at the store April 16 and sliding his cell phone under a stall to photograph an 11-year-old girl, but he has not been charged in that incident, St. Petersburg police Detective Peter Venero said.

Investigators confiscated Weese's cell phone and were putting together a search warrant today so they could view the pictures on it, Venero said.

After the surveillance video was released, police received tips identifying the man as Weese, Venero said.

Weese was charged and pled no contest to voyeurism back in 2006, when his victim was a woman whose bathroom stall he peeked under. He served a year of probation. Voyeurism is a misdemeanor if done less than three times and a felony when done three times or more in Florida. A bill seeks to make voyeurs who prey on kids under 16 liable for a felony conviction is on Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's desk, after the case of a coach who victimized more than 50 of his high school swimming students. In Illinois, voyeurism is a felony regardless of the victim's age.

Upskirting soon to be illegal in Oklahoma

In Oklahoma, upskirting is currently legal because of a case where a man sucessfully got his voyeurism case dropped because courts said that a woman did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy from Peeping Toms. Videotaping kids is illegal.

In the criminal case, a 34-year-old man was arrested in 2006 for placing a camera underneath the girl's skirt at a Tulsa store and taking photographs. He was charged under a "Peeping Tom" statute that requires the victim to be "in a place where there is a right to a reasonable expectation of privacy."

A Tulsa County judge dismissed the charge in January 2007 after ruling that "the person photographed was not in a place where she had a reasonable expectation of privacy." The decision was upheld this week by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Appellate court Judge Gary Lumpkin dissented from the court's 4-1 decision, writing that "what this decision does is state to women who desire to wear dresses that there is no expectation of privacy as to what they have covered with their dress." "In other words, it is open season for peeping Toms in public places who want to look under a woman's dress," Lumpkin wrote.

State representative Pam Peterson, R-Tulsa, has written a bill which makes it a misdemeanor to video tape a person's private areas,"regardless of whether the person is in a public or private place." Penalties range up to a year in jail and a $5000 fine.

In Illinois, videotaping of both kids and adults was made a felony as of January 1st, and a Chicago Tribune report dated December 26, 2007 showed that damage to victims from the videotaping and distribution on the Internet was widespread.

For those who are interested, the Oklahoma bill to outlaw peeping with cameras is HB 2606. Unfortunately, unlike other states, the maximum penalty is a misdemeanor.