Peeping Tom victims, lawmakers say penalties too lax

A Beaverton man who pleaded guilty Tuesday to invasion of personal privacy is expected to spend two years behind bars, the punishment for using a hidden camera to spy on an underage teen girl naked for nearly five years.

Bradley McCollum, 48, was convicted of filming now-18-year-old Madison Reed starting when she was just 13 years old. A camera was discovered by Reed’s parents in her bedroom. Another camera was found in a beach house where the family sometimes vacationed.

“It’s disgusting,” Reed said. “I don’t like to think about it, but I think about it all the time. Like all day.”

McCollum’s expected two year sentence is the result of a law that legislators, prosecutors and victims find unsavory: invasion of privacy is only a misdemeanor under Oregon law.

Many other states classify invasion of privacy as harsher crimes, with more serious penalties.

In the past two years, five people in Deschutes County have been charged or convicted of invasion of privacy. Some of the victims were minors.

“This is where you have to recognize the difference between children and adults, and crimes committed against children should have enhanced penalties,” Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said Wednesday.

One man spent only days in jail because his victims were not undressed.

“If a woman is wearing underwear, then she’s not in a state of undress, and it’s not a crime, because the statute is pretty darn specific,” Hummel said.

Some of the more recent invasion of privacy cases on the High Desert include 60-year-old Richard Ipsen, who is serving a one year jail sentence after he spied on three women in his Bend NorthWest Crossing home.

Ipsen also was convicted of similar crimes in Washington County after he placed a hidden camera in a Sherwood Starbucks bathroom.

And Bend police are currently investigating whether an iPhone was used to spy on women using the restroom at COCC’s Modoc Hall. So far, police and COCC have refused to comment on the allegations.

Meanwhile, Oregon lawmakers are working to update invasion of privacy laws. House Bill 2356 is especially aimed at protecting minors. A new law could make spying a felony — and peeping Toms could have to register as sex offenders in some cases.

The harsher penalties largely depend on whether victims are underage and if the perpetrator has prior convictions. The maximum jail sentence would become five years.