Sabrina Dove
PLST 230- D02
Elements of a Crime Assignment
On 5/08/2018 at 1504 hours, I received a call of a man in the local Target who was caught by
Target security using a cell phone to take pictures of a young girl in the store. I arrived on scene
at 15:10 and immediately went into the store. Upon arrival I found the suspect, Joseph Scum,
DOB 04/18/1975 who was in the custody of store security personnel. Security Officer Jones
advised me that he had watched Mr. Scum on the CCTV system walking the aisles of the store
without purchasing anything. Initially thinking that he was a shoplifter, he decided to pay closer
attention. He watched as Mr. Scum followed a girl, later identified as Susan Williams, DOB
06/05/2005, who was looking at dolls in the toy section. Susan was wearing a dress, and Mr.
Scum stood next to Susan, bent down and pretended to tie his shoe, and quickly used his phone
to take a picture under the girl’s dress. He advised that he immediately left the CCTV booth and
confronted Mr. Scum. He escorted Mr. Scum back to the security office and took the phone. I
advised Mr. Scum of his Miranda Rights and asked him if I could look at his phone. Mr. Scum
cooperated and gave me consent to search the phone. On the phone, I located a photograph taken
under the dress of a girl. The photo clearly showed the black underwear of the girl and was taken
under the dress. Mr. Scum admitted to taking the photo and said that he “was sick and needed
help.” The store security personnel located the girl and her mother, and I explained what had
occurred. Both said that they wanted to ensure that Mr. Scum was prosecuted. I placed Mr. Scum
under arrest for violation of ORS 163.700. Case is now referred for prosecution.
In order to charge Mr. Scum with the class A misdemeanor of invasion of personal
privacy we will have to show Mr. Scum “knowingly makes or records a photograph, motion
picture, video tape or other visual recording of another person in a state of nudity without the
consent of the person being recorded” ORS 163:700 (A). Mr. Scum admitted taking the photo
according to the police report. This is the easier part of the statue to prove. We will also have to
prove that the victim was in a state of nudity by which the statute defines as “any part of the
uncovered or less than opaquely covered; genitals; pubic area; or female breasts below a point
immediately above the top of the areola). Based on the police report, Ms. Williams was not in a
state of nudity as the picture showed Ms. Williams was wearing black underwear. We must also
prove that Ms. Williams was “in a place and circumstances where the person has a reasonable
expectation of personal privacy” OCR 163:700 (B). Per the OCR 163:700 (2)(c), places and
circumstances where the person has a reasonable expectation of personal privacy includes, but
not limited to, a bathroom, dressing room, locker room that includes an enclosed area for
dressing or showering, tanning booth and any area where a person undresses in an enclosed
space that is not open to public view”. As Ms. Williams was in an isle at the local Target, the
expectation of personal privacy was not there. Granted what Mr. Scum did is disgusting, he does
not meet the criteria for ORS 163:700.
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