Post by Joanna on Feb 13, 2015 23:27:40 GMT -5
Ghost Hunter Charged with Peeping at/Videotaping Minors
MANNFORD, Okla. – An Oklahoma man was arrested after police say he admitted to peeping on a former roommate's minor children and videoing them in the bathroom. The police chief said the case wasn’t even on their radar until Tommy Smith called a detective talking about an investigation into a hidden bathroom camera and paranormal activity. Tommy William Smith Jr. was arrested on four complaints of oyeurism with photographic equipment and two counts of lewd molestation. "They had no earthly idea that they were being recorded," said Chief Lucky Miller.
Miller says Smith used a web camera for at least a year to record his roommate's three teenaged children showering. He said Smith scratched off a small portion of the mirror and replaced it with reflective window tint. Next, he cut a hole in the wall between the bathroom and his bedroom and placed the camera inside. "This guy went to great lengths to disguise the camera and great lengths to disguise the power cord, and even the power cord that went to his computer," the chief added. "Had you looked at the wall on the other side, you'd have no knowledge that there's a camera inside the wall that's being powered by a power supply that's inside the wall.”
It wasn't until after Smith moved out, when the former roommate was getting ready to sell his house, that the camera was discovered. That roommate called police, just 10 minutes after Smith himself alerted detectives.
"He left the camera there thinking it will never be found by anybody, the next people will move in and everything will be fine but he was sadly mistaken," said the police chief.
Court documents indicate Smith told officers the video equipment was used in paranormal research. "Ghost hunting, not buying it, that's why we continued with the investigation," Chief Miller said. And as the questioning continued, the chief said the truth came out. "When he started telling his story, it was more like he was bragging about what he had done and what he had seen, so we allowed him to continue to tell his story."
After moving from Mannford to Bixby, Smith continued to contact the minor victims through text and Facebook – even suggesting that one of the girls should get a job doing online webcam posting, court records state.
Smith was arrested, but Miller fears there could be more victims. Police have sent all Smith's electronic ghost-hunting devices to the OSBI for analysis but they said Smith was a computer programmer and knew how to get rid of evidence.
Source: Tess Maune, KOTV News, December 3, 2014.
