A woman whose coworker secretly recorded videos of her going to the bathroom and changing her clothes urged Wyoming lawmakers on Monday to advance a bill making all convicted, felony-level voyeurs in the state register as sex offenders.
Wyoming’s legislative Senate Judiciary Committee granted her request, voting 4-0 (with one member excused as absent) to pass Senate File 122 and send it to the chamber floor.
If it becomes law, the bill will expand a requirement already in state law, which makes convicted felon voyeurs with child victims register as sex offenders. The new law would raise the threshold for registration to offenders with adult victims, as well.
Like voyeurs with child victims, the other felony-level voyeurs would be placed on the least severe of Wyoming’s sex offender registries: the one that requires offenders to report to their local sheriffs and be photographed once a year.
There are two, more-stringent registration lists in Wyoming law for sex offenders, but neither would apply to SF 122. They include requiring offenders to check in every six months and another list requiring offenders to check in every three months.
Looking Right At Me
Testifying by video link, a woman named Melanie, who reached out to Cowboy State Daily later to request her surname not be used, told the committee that in 2019 she used to take walks on her lunch break, at a job where she no longer works.
She used the work bathroom to change in and out of her workout clothes. One day when half-undressed, she noticed a web camera-sized recording device in the bathroom – pointed right at her, she told the committee.
When police received the device they uncovered one year’s worth of video recordings, or around 100,000 captured images, she said.
“I ended up having to go down to the police station to identify three of my fellow female coworkers using the restroom. And they in turn had to identify me doing the same,” said Melanie. “To say this was an invasion of privacy was a huge understatement.”
Police also found the offender taking “mock videos” of himself sitting on the toilet as if to set the camera at his preferred angle, of the toilet, she said.
The man was sentenced to two years in prison and two years’ supervised probation, she added. To her, Melanie continued, it felt like he got a slap on the wrist.
“Once he was out of prison and on probation I was never informed of his whereabouts, his workplace or his current address,” she said. Had he been required to register as a sex offender she could have kept track of him.
Melanie theorized that technology and pornography access are only increasing this crime. And she said the age of the victims should make no difference in registering and penalizing the offenders.
“I was targeted. He was waiting for me to leave the restroom so he could grab the camera and view its contents. He wasn’t banking on getting caught,” said Melanie. “Predators will continue to hunt until they’ve found their next prey.”
Committee Chair Sen. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, told Melanie he’s sorry she went through this and thanked her for bringing her experiences and recommendations to light to help future victims.
Olsen voted in favor of the bill, as did Republican Sens. Barry Crago (Buffalo), Larry Hicks (Baggs), and John Kolb (Rock Springs).
Rep. Gary Crum, R-Laramie, was excused as absent during the vote.
No speakers attended the meeting to oppose the bill.
Correction - This story originally said the bill would make all voyeurs register, when it would focus on all felony-level voyeurs. The victim's surname has been removed at her post-publication request as well.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
