Thursday, October 26, 2006

Secret Video Taping

Yesterday I came across a story about a former police dispatcher who was charged with a felony for secretly videotaping his ex-wife. His ex-wife happens to be a deputy sheriff in upstate New York.

The man, Michael Alteri, was accused of hiding a video camera in his ex-wife's home. Ticonderoga town police obtained a search warrant for Alteri's home and found videotapes from a hidden video camera allegedly installed in his ex-wife's home. He was charged with felony eavesdropping.

This brings up several questions. Did Alteri place the camera in his ex-wife's home before the divorce? Or, did he trespass in her home after the divorce?

Where was the camera? In her bedroom or bathroom? Since the grand jury indicted him for felony eavesdropping, it was probably in one of them.

The article I read didn't say why the town police got a search warrant, but somehow the man's ex-wife must have suspected something was going on. Perhaps she had her home swept for eavesdropping devices.

New York state has very stiff penalties for audio eavesdropping, or wiretapping, as it's called. The laws regarding video eavesdropping are somewhat vague. In any case, a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy in their home, which makes this type of video taping problematic.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hmm seems the eavesdropper had more then just an obsession with the ex. ---
Alteri and another dispatcher had been arrested earlier this year and charged in relation to sex and drinking parties involving a minor.

The other dispatcher, Kenneth A. Otley, 35, of Ticonderoga, pleaded guilty earlier this month to endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor and will be sentenced Nov. 28.

Otley had originally been charged with felony third degree rape in addition to three counts of endangering as the result of incidents involving a 16-year-old girl at a party at the home of Otley and his girlfriend, Monica L. Stacy.

Alteri had opted to go to trial on the earlier charges.

Alteri has a past conviction of unlawfully dealing with child. He was arrested in June 1997 for third degree rape, a felony, for allegedly engaging in sex with another 16-year-old girl. That charge was reduced to a misdemeanor to which he pleaded guilty and was allowed to keep his job as a police dispatcher.

Alteri and Otley resigned their dispatcher positions following their arrest in February. Alteri had also been suspended from his position as a paid EMT with the Ticonderoga Emergency Squad.