Teacher Charged Under 'Peeping-Tom' Law

[Rhino]

Texas High School Teacher Charged Under 'Peeping-Tom' Law for Videotaping Girls Wrestling

Thursday, January 11, 2007

DALLAS — A high school teacher was charged under Texas' peeping-tom law with videotaping girls' wrestling matches for his sexual enjoyment.

Police said David Ware, 28, often zoomed in for close-up shots of the girls' crotches.

The first-year speech and drama teacher planned to turn himself in to Grand Prairie police this week on charges of improper visual recording, which carries up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Ware shot about two hours of videotape at an all-day tournament Saturday but drew suspicion from a coach, Grand Prairie Sgt. John Brimmer said. A police officer reviewed Ware's tape.

"This was more than accidental footage of the genital areas," Brimmer said. "It appeared to be a purposeful act of zooming in.".....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,243157,00.html

[CountryGent]

So "zooming" is now illegal in Texas?:D

[DoctorDoom]

With the proliferation of porn on the Net, only an idiot would destroy his career for cheap titillation.

"If you can't do the time, don't do the crime."
-- Anthony Vincenzo Baretta

[DesertFox]

Frankly, this sounds like an idiotic law.

[Wolfcounsel]

Except for filming underage kids' crotches close-up, this sounds like an idiotic law to me also.

[Rhino]

Still is. There is no expectation of privacy when in public, so I don't expect this will stand unless he simply gives in.

[Wolfcounsel]

What? Filming of kids' crotches in public with a zoom lens is okie-dokie?:confused:

[Rhino]

§ 21.15. IMPROPER PHOTOGRAPHY OR VISUAL RECORDING.
(a) In this section, "promote" has the meaning assigned by Section 43.21.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) photographs or by videotape or other electronic means visually records another:
(A) without the other person's consent; and
(B) with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person;
or
(2) knowing the character and content of the photograph or recording, promotes a photograph or visual recording described by Subdivision (1).
http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/PE/content/htm/pe.005.00.000021.00.htm

There are two problems here.

1. You have to be able to prove intent.
2. According to the way (b)(1) is written, you couldn't take a picture of a good looking girl on a city street if you could be aroused by looking at it later.

I have absolutely no soft spot for sexual deviates, but this law is a bunch of crap.

[Wolfcounsel]

"I have absolutely no soft spot for sexual deviates, but this law is a bunch of crap." --Rhino

I understand. I think someone with a certain fetish for, say women's shoes, could get excited looking at the pictures, and WHAM! They got him! Also, with these new 8 megapixel or 10 megapixel cameras, one does not really need to zoom in.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[Rhino]

Imagine what they could do with the paparazzi pictures like those of Brittney Spears, or the 'Jessica's Poo' pictures. The photographers would get life and all the Hollywood starlets would move to Texas. LOL!

[Riverboat]

'Jessica's Poo' pictures. The what?! Jessica's WHAT?! I thought the Poo thing was just some sick joke the Junkerman (does he know any other kind?) dumped on his sig line. If not, then, sad to say, satire has moved beyond even his capacity.

Someone please tell me the pooperazzi aren't taking pictures of celebrity turds. I need something to believe in, and without my faith in Wyatt's ability to create such material out of his head, I might just as well hang myself.

[Rhino]

LOL! I was referring to the titillating pictures, not the poo itself. If the Texas law were interpreted literally, taking such pictures would be illegal. Texas had the right motivation and intentions, but they did an incredibly poor job of writing the statute.

The world would be far less enjoyable if Wyatt ran out of material.

[Riverboat]

Whew! That's a relief. Still, there must be a market out there for that sort of thing.

You know how to kiss, don't you? Just squeeze your cheeks together and blow.

[DoctorDoom]

Speaking as a dad with two daughters, if one of his jerkoff-fodder girls were my kid, he'd best hope that he never gets out while I'm armed and ambulatory.

[DeclinetoState]

Were the girls wrestling in dresses?

[Wolfcounsel]

"What? Filming of kids' crotches in public with a zoom lens is okie-dokie?:confused:" --Originally posted by Wolf Counsel



:smack: D-oh! I mean, what kind of pervert goes around filming kids' crotches?:crazy:
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[DesertFox]

what kind of pervert goes around filming kids' crotches?A kids'-crotches pervert? :question:

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Boy, reading the initial post (actually, just glancing quickly at it at first), was a big WOAH! to me. Today, I spent the entire morning taking pictures and filming a girls' weightlifting meet! My daughter is on the weightlifting team, so me and another mother are taking pics and vids so we can put together a keepsake for the girls at the end of the season.

I am IN NO WAY speaking in support of this guy, who does sound like he's a pervert, but I must say, it is very difficult to get pics that AREN'T, errr somewhat compromising of the girls. The positions they are in when lifting bench weights, with the spotters behind them to help, then the clean-and-jerk (that event title ALONE makes me queasy) are quite, uhh, well they could be construed as provocative. Throw in on top of that the "uniform" (called a singlet, a one piece, skin-tight unitard), well let's just say it doesn't leave much to the imagination. We require our daughter to wear a t-shirt under the top portion of her suit as well as shorts until she has to actually lift (then she puts them right back on after her lift).

BTW, my daughter had six clean lifts today!
Bench and C & J- 75, 80, and 85lbs / her lift total was 170!

We won't know until next Tuesday if she placed, but she placed 4th in her weight class in her first meet (ever!), and last Thursday (2nd meet) she placed 3rd!

[DoctorDoom]

Inadvertent suggestive shots of girls that are part of normal filming are unavoidable and can be edited out if they're too revealing. This pedo was focusing on those areas and using the shots for self-gratification. The purpose is entirely different from creating a documentary. And who knows how many of his videos found their way out onto the Web for the use of other deviants like him?

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

So, so true, Doc. It's a sad shame that what is so innocent, can be so twisted into something vile and disgusting.

I'm sure our video is going to come out great, though, we have some super silly shots of the girls making faces, doing their best "Hulk Hogan" imitations, and crazy warm-up routines. We have a really great bunch of lady-lifters, and I'm very happy (and proud) that my daughter is among their number. We happen to have a good coach and assistant coach too!

I can't imagine the sickness that must consume a mind to try to produce (practically pornographic) such images of young girls in such a manner. :sad:

[DeclinetoState]

Maybe we should also question the wisdom of letting girls participate in sports that were traditionally for boys. Of course, the teacher could have been a woman shooting male wrestlers' butts and bulges. In fact, how do we know that hasn't happened?

[ConspiracyBuff]

Do they know for sure if the man masturbated to the video? How are they to prove it was for "self-gratification"? Of course pedo's are the biggest filth on the planet and they all deserve to die a slow death but I agree with some others here that this legislation is off. It is too vague and almost impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt- at least in my mind.

Doc brings up a good point. With the internet being what it is, this guy is taking a risk if this was indeed his intent. Then again, maybe he needs live action cam to stimulate himself.

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Maybe we should also question the wisdom of letting girls participate in sports that were traditionally for boys.

Personally, I don't have a problem with it, as long as it isn't practiced co-ed. (My daughter's weightlifting is STRICTLY for girls, they do not participate in co-ed meets, or meets held at the same time/location (as the boys). HOWEVER, that said, it wouldn't bother me, either, if they stopped offering that particular sport (she totally blew my mind when she said she wanted to do girls' weightlifting!). No biggie, she made the JV Girls' Fast-Pitch Softball Team too :thumb: