Dad Faces No Charges for Nude Pictures of Daughter Taken From Web Cam

[taranaki]

(ABCNEWS.com)


May 29— Crystal's parents were away on vacation when she made a disturbing discovery on her father's computer: nude pictures — and she was the subject.


Crystal, now 24, says her father, Ron, retrieved the pictures via a computer Web camera in her bedroom, which had previously been in his office. The photos stretched back five years, to when she was 19.

She made the discovery while her parents were on vacation. Crystal told her mother when they returned from their trip.

"It was a hard thing to tell her. She burst into tears," Crystal told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.

"When I think about it, I feel like I'm going to vomit," Crystal said

Crystal would not give her last name in order to protect her family, and did not want pictures of her family, including that of her father, shown.

When Crystal tried to turn copies of the photos over to police to press criminal charges against her dad, she got another surprise. Under state law in Massachusetts, it is not a crime to take pictures of someone without their knowledge, even if they're nude.

"There was no criminal law involved here," said Elizabeth Scheibel, Northwestern district attorney for the commonwealth of Massachusetts. "It is not against the law to photograph an adult without their consent or knowledge," she said.

Scheibel said the criminal law in Massachusetts has a major loophole. While it is a crime to make audio recordings of an adult without their knowledge, someone can take all the pictures he wants without being arrested or prosecuted.


Camera Aimed at Bed
The trouble began five years ago, when Crystal — pregnant and unmarried — moved back into her family home in Easthampton, Mass., at age 19.

Crystal's old bedroom had become her dad's home office, complete with a computer equipped with a Web camera. She moved into her old room, and had no idea that the camera could be on when the computer was off.

But one day Crystal was lying in bed when she noticed that the lens of the camera that had been sitting on top of the computer, was now aimed at her bed. It had always been pointed in a different direction before.

Crystal then called her computer-savvy friend, Jordan Shapiro to help her do a little detective work.

Shapiro said the images he found shocked him.

"I found hundreds of pictures of Crystal," he said. "There were no photographs of her with clothes on. In every single one she was partially dressed, or getting undressed, or doing something undressed."

Crystal says she still can't believe that her father won't face any criminal charges for taking the pictures and now the computer and all the images are back in her father's possession.

"That made it even worse. That made it 10 times worse," Crystal said. "It's like being kicked twice. I didn't believe it."

Crystal said her mother is now filing for divorce and her father no longer lives in the family home. She says her mother told her that her father said he took the pictures to make sure she wasn't using drugs.

Scheibel say the case still angers her since she knows there's nothing she can do to help Crystal.

"Our hands are tied," Scheibel said. "It's reprehensible. It makes people sick to know that this goes on."

Crystal said she's sharing her painful story with the world in an effort to change the law. She wants a new law to be introduced in the state of Massachusetts that would make it illegal for anyone to take nude photos of an adult without their knowledge.

"That's the point of this," Crystal said. "A lot of people didn't know it wasn't illegal. A lot of people thought it was illegal."


There are some things that most people would take for granted.One of the things that I always believed is that shit like this couldn't happen without someone ending up in court.

[Toksin]

That's disgusting on so many levels.

[jon@af]

Originally Posted by taranaki

(ABCNEWS.com)


Under state law in Massachusetts, it is not a crime to take pictures of someone without their knowledge, even if they're nude.

"There was no criminal law involved here," said Elizabeth Scheibel, Northwestern district attorney for the commonwealth of Massachusetts. "It is not against the law to photograph an adult without their consent or knowledge,"

That, to me, is disgusting. Not only should charges be brought against him, he should be disallowed from any computer device and be several times over. I hope he realizes just what he's done to his daughters life now that she knows of this. What a piece of sh*t.

[freakray]

That guy is one sick bastard.

I know she it keeping his name secret for her own sake too, but she should make it known who he is, let the people know what a sick pervert the guy is and at least get justice that way.
The guy doesn't deserve her protection.

On another note, why didn't she delete all the images?

[Graphik Styles]

she probably didnt delete them because she was going to keep them for evidence, and when they found out it wasnt against the law, her father had probably allready left



thats really sick and perverted, honestly he should be charged or something

[NSX-R-SSJ20K]

they only notice when a law is missing when someone brings it to light. It's such a pity that this is one such occasion. He won't be able to be tried even if they do get the law into place but it will help to avoid this happening in future. If they don't put this law into place then Massachusetts then people will still be violated and it will be even more disgusting.

[BLU CIVIC]

having nude pics or video of someone over 18 really isn't illegal unless the video has sound to it

another reason i didn't want a girl.... but oh well, she's here now

[YogsVR4]

The guy is a sick bastard. I can't imagine how someone could or would want to do something like that with their own daughter.

[Veyron]

And this moron got 18 months for licking a woman's foot in public, in the same state?

Foot Licker Gets 18 Months in Jail
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

UXBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- A man accused of licking a woman's feet in a Bellingham grocery store was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to assault just before his trial was to begin.

Raymond Dublin, 36, formerly of Providence, R.I., pleaded guilty Tuesday at Uxbridge District Court to charges of assault and battery and lewd and lascivious behavior.

His attorney asked for a sentence of two years of counseling, but Judge Paul Losapio said counseling wasn't sufficient for Dublin, a two-time convicted sex offender who just completed a one-year sentence on similar foot-licking charges at a Woonsocket, R.I., supermarket.

``I don't know what type of counseling someone could undergo for this kind of behavior,'' he said.

Dublin was charged with sneaking up behind a woman at the Bellingham Save-A-Lot supermarket and licking her feet and toes in June 2002.

Prosecutor Paul Bolton said Dublin had three separate encounters with the woman, whom he described as ``extremely annoyed.''

``This individual, this gentleman, has a significant sexual problem,'' Bolton said of Dublin.

[BLU CIVIC]

Originally Posted by Veyron

And this moron got 18 months for licking a woman's foot in public, in the same state?

that's totally different for the story at hand b/c he actually went out and commited an act that i'm sure he's been contemplating for a long time

[NSX-R-SSJ20K]

Originally Posted by BLU CIVIC

that's totally different for the story at hand b/c he actually went out and commited an act that i'm sure he's been contemplating for a long time

and he was a repeat offender

[2strokebloke]

Originally Posted by taranaki

When Crystal tried to turn copies of the photos over to police to press criminal charges against her dad, she got another surprise. Under state law in Massachusetts, it is not a crime to take pictures of someone without their knowledge, even if they're nude.

"There was no criminal law involved here," said Elizabeth Scheibel, Northwestern district attorney for the commonwealth of Massachusetts. "It is not against the law to photograph an adult without their consent or knowledge," she said.

So it's illegal for two 14 year olds to attempt to have sex with eachother - but it's not illegal for a father to photograph his daughter nude without her permission?
I feel so let down by the system right now.

[BLU CIVIC]

i thought about what the father did.....an i agree with what he did.....i don't know the daughter's past but i guess he had good enough reason to do it.....but if his ultimate plan was to see if she was using drugs, then he and his wife should have been in agreement as to the method in which he used

[YogsVR4]

Originally Posted by BLU CIVIC

i thought about what the father did.....an i agree with what he did.....i don't know the daughter's past but i guess he had good enough reason to do it.....but if his ultimate plan was to see if she was using drugs, then he and his wife should have been in agreement as to the method in which he used

Wouldn't you think that he would have had photos of her with her clothes on? Or had at least deleted the ones where she's not fully dressed once he got a glimpse? Regardless of her past and obvious poor judgement (19, pregnent and moving back in with mom and dad) it is just plain sick to take and keep photographs of you daughter when she's in a state of undress.

[Veyron]

Originally Posted by YogsVR4

Wouldn't you think that he would have had photos of her with her clothes on? Or had at least deleted the ones where she's not fully dressed once he got a glimpse? Regardless of her past and obvious poor judgement (19, pregnent and moving back in with mom and dad) it is just plain sick to take and keep photographs of you daughter when she's in a state of undress.

Agreed! His judgement was obviously poor and his drug use excuse transparently twisted.