B.C. man who installed hidden cameras in workplace bathrooms sentenced for voyeurism, child pornography

Hands type on a computer keyboard in Los Angeles, on Feb. 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Warning: This story contains disturbing details. 

A B.C. man has been sentenced to one year in jail for voyeurism and child pornography, charges that stemmed in part from filming his colleagues and their children with "strategically placed" hidden cameras in workplace bathrooms.

The sentence was handed down in Kamloops Provincial Court and posted online last week. However, the offenses occurred between 2014 and 2016, according to court documents. The man, referred to only as G.S.H. due to a publication ban meant to protect the identities of his victims, pleaded guilty in May of 2022.

"Mr. H.’s criminal behaviour in Kamloops did not come to light until August 2016 when Mr. H. was arrested in Kingston, Ont., and charged with similar events," the decision reads.

"Specifically, he was charged and convicted in Ontario with two counts of voyeurism, one count of making child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography in that location."

Following his conviction, he spent two years in prison in that province for those crimes. On the day he was released in 2019, he was arrested on the B.C. charges.

THE VOYEURISM CHARGE

Justice Lorianna Bennet, in her sentencing decision, said that when G.S.H. was in charge of renovating workplace washrooms he "deliberately planned and installed what appeared to be a sophisticated hidden-camera recording regime."

In one bathroom, the court heard, G.S.H. installed the camera in a paper towel dispenser directly across from the toilet and ran a cord into the ceiling to connect it with a power source. In the other, he attached the camera to a wood block he installed under the sink using Velcro, and again ran a cord up to the ceiling.

The cameras were installed in 2014 and discovered in 2016.

Bennet noted that this came to light during the Ontario investigation. When G.S.H.'s devices were seized in that province, investigators found "video footage of people entering the two washrooms and using the toilet with their genitals exposed," as well as one of G.S.H. installing a camera. "Coincidentally," the court heard, the Kamloops company discovered and reported "suspicious items" in the two bathrooms around the same time.

Devices seized from G.S.H.'s home in Kamloops revealed more footage of "numerous" adults and children using the workplace bathrooms as well as footage of a girl between eight and 12 years old changing into a bathing suit.

"In the case of the voyeurism charges, Mr. H.’s victims were vulnerable in that he recorded individuals in washrooms where they would have had a high expectation of privacy," the judge wrote, explaining some of the aggravating factors at play.

"Mr. H. was in a position of trust. He was a trusted and valued employee ... when he undertook two washroom-renovation projects. The washrooms were used not only by his coworkers, but also by their children."

The name of the workplace is absent from the decision because it is also covered by the publication ban.

THE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGE

The electronics seized in Kamloops also revealed a large and disturbing cache of child pornography, according to the decision. There were three videos and over 500 images, all featuring girls between four and 16 years old, the court heard.

"(They) showed the children posing in a sexual manner, engaged in sexual acts with other children, or engaged in vaginal or anal intercourse with adult males," according to the decision.

He was charged with one count of possessing child pornography.

THE CHARGES IN OTHER JURISDICTIONS

Bennett's decision does not go into detail on the charges and convictions that took place in Ontario, only saying that the offenses were "similar." However, the court documents do reveal some details about what led to G.S.H. being indicted on three counts of producing images of child pornography in the U.S.

The 2016 investigation in Ontario found "digital images of a female’s genitals," the judge wrote. The photos were allegedly taken during a trip to Memphis that same year.

"Mr. H. had travelled to Tennessee to stay with friends and one of the families he stayed with had a three-year-old daughter," the court documents say. The U.S. attempted to have G.S.H. extradited to face the charges, but he successfully challenged the move arguing his Charter rights were violated in the course of the investigation.

G.S.H.'s lawyer, the judge said, was the one who brought the court's attention to these prior charges. In asking for a conditional sentence and no jail time, the defense argued G.S.H. should have been sentenced for the B.C. and Ontario charges simultaneously because they would have been "treated as a single criminal adventure." Further, the defence argued that "to send Mr. H. back to prison now, especially in light of all of the rehabilitation he has done, would subject him to unusually severe consequences."

The judge ultimately disagreed.

"There is no nexus between the British Columbia and Ontario offences. The British Columbia offences were separate offences, with separate victims, in a jurisdiction on the opposite side of the country at different times," she wrote.

"These facts cannot be ignored, nor can I ignore the fact that while Mr. H. did receive a significant level of rehabilitation through counselling, that counselling was undertaken only because he was convicted of further similar offences. Additionally, the fact that Mr. H. has received counselling for other similar offences does not automatically negate the need for it here."

However, because the B.C. crimes predated the Ontario charges, G.S.H. was considered by the court to be a first-time offender for the purposes of sentencing.

THE SENTENCE

Although the maximum sentence for voyeurism is 10 years and that for possession of child pornography is also 10 – Bennett noted Crown Counsel only argued for one year. Bennett agreed the offence warranted jail time.

"I find that a conditional sentence order would be unfit and contrary to the public interest; it would be an insufficient sentence to communicate the wrongfulness of Mr. H.’s conduct to both himself and to the larger community," she wrote.

G.S.H. was sentenced to one year for the voyeurism charge and one year for the child pornography charge, to be served concurrently and to be followed by an additional year of probation. The terms include registering as a sex offender, no contact with his victims, providing a DNA sample and staying away from people under 16.

The judge considered G.S.H.'s early guilty plea, his remorse, and his efforts at rehabilitation while in prison in Ontario among mitigating factors. The number of victims, the length of time over which the voyeurism occurred, and the abuse of a position of trust were considered aggravating.