SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — A change of heart for an Oregon man who admits to secretly recording a girl for years, starting when she was just 13 years old.
The cameras inside the girl’s Beaverton bedroom and beach house are now gone.
But because Oregon’s laws aren’t updated, his crimes are only considered a misdemeanor, leaving many, including a Springfield mother demanding stricter penalties.
Her case goes back to 2013 where her neighbor admitted to secretly filming her daughter in her bedroom.
“Our neighbor we found out had drilled holes in the siding of his house and aimed cameras into our ten-year-old daughter’s bedroom,” said Chrystal Stutesman, Springfield resident.
And this year, miles away in a Portland suburb, a similar shock for a Beaverton family.
“We were looking for every excuse to think it was someone else until we had proof. And yeah our world was upside down,” said Clark Reed, Beaverton resident.
Two worlds shattered, after a neighbor watched and video taped Stutesman’s daughter for eight months.
And a family friend watched Reed’s daughter via cameras he placed in her bedroom and at a beach house.
That man, Bradley McCollum pleaded guilty to burglary and misdemeanor invasion of privacy charges Tuesday, a reminder for Stutesman the penalties aren’t harsh enough.
“I wanted it to be a much more severe crime on a child because obviously that’s a whole different type of perversion if you’re going to record a child for sexual purposes,” said Stutesman.
Stutesman has been pushing for changes in legislation since her daughter’s case in 2013.
Now a proposed bill, HB 2356 may be the answer, making the invasion of personal privacy crime an automatic felony if the victim is under 18 years old.
“That’s definitely an improvement over what we have now I’d be happy to see any improvements in the law,” said Stutesman.
But it can’t be just a quick fix Stutesman says for all the families who fall victim to invasion of privacy cases, lawmakers need to take a thorough look at how the law can apply in the future.
That bill would carry a maximum penalty of five years in jail, a $125,000 fine or both and require the suspect register as a sex offender.
Lawmakers say they’ll begin discussing that bill in the coming weeks.
Stutesman says she’s been working with lawmakers to propose a bill that may hit the floor in the upcoming legislative session.
