April 20, 2009
FBI workers in W.Va. charged with dressing-room spying
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Update: Lawyer for accused says client is innocent.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Two FBI workers are accused of using surveillance equipment to spy on teenage girls as they undressed and tried on prom gowns at a charity event at a West Virginia mall.

The FBI employees have been charged with conspiracy and committing criminal invasion of privacy. They were working in an FBI satellite control room at the mall when they positioned a camera on temporary changing rooms and zoomed in for at least 90 minutes on girls dressing for the Cinderella Project fashion show, Marion County Prosecutor Pat Wilson said Monday.

Gary Sutton Jr., 40, of New Milton and Charles Hommema of Buckhannon have been charged with the misdemeanors and face fines and up to a year in jail on each charge if convicted.

Sutton has been released on bond, Wilson said, and Hommema is to be arraigned later this week. Wilson did not know Hommema's age.

The workers were described in a complaint as "police officers,'' but prosecutors did not say whether the men were agents or describe what kind of work they did.

The Cinderella Project at the Middletown Mall in the north-central West Virginia town of Fairmont drew hundreds of girls from 10 high schools in five counties. Organizer Cynthia Woodyard said volunteers, donors and participants are angry.

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Posted By: wv 2008 (12:54am 04-22-2009)
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I agree how was this act discovered????

Posted By: Arcadian (10:13pm 04-21-2009)
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I dunno Hdt, maybe we should ask that Question of the young Women, or the families of these Daughters who these 'trusted' individuals were abusing via their spying.

Personally I am curious how the act was discovered, did these individuals make copies of what hey surveyed? Did they offer to show them to someone else? It may well be that they got busted just by bragging about what they did.. but I find that the with-holding of that factor could possibly hide a cause for further charges. I dont care who these guys are or who they worked for, if found guilty, they deserve to be treated like anyone who conducts a crime like this.

Posted By: hdt (2:44pm 04-21-2009)
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If these allegations prove to be true two young lives will forever be ruined with the stigma of being a sexual criminal...maybe Moser has a point where is the Christian Forgiveness in regard to non-violent sexual offenses like this one?.

Posted By: Moser (9:14am 04-21-2009)
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The FBI is GREAT at setting up stings and placing people in a position to do wrong (aka entrapment (but you can't prove that in court EVER))and then placing those people on the Sex Offender Registry for 10 years to life (depending on the incident)but when it comes to 'one of their own', they get charged with a MISDEMEANOR and MAY have to serve up to 1 year in jail -- jail, not PRISON! Do they think the American public is stupid and not watching what THEY'RE doing??? I am appalled at our government and am sickened by this whole Sex Offender Registry business -- the Adam Walsh Act enacted by Congress back in 2004 really is out of control to say the very least. Why aren't these FBI 'employees' (notice they didn't use the word 'Agents')going to be put on the Registry? Our government has placed a 14-year-old GIRL on the Registry for sending nude pictures of herself to her boyfriend via her phone for goodness sakes! Do I think this girl should be reprimanded?? Yes, but the Registry? No

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