Man Pleads Guilty To Using Hidden Cameras To Record Kids In Bathrooms
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A 55-year-old Maryland man is set for sentencing after admitting to secretly filming children using hidden cameras in bathrooms.
Jonathan Mark Oldale pleaded guilty to federal charges of production and possession of child pornography, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
As part of the plea agreement, Oldale will be sentenced to between 15 and 25 years in prison. His sentencing is set for April 1, 2019.
The investigation into Oldale began on May 5, 2017, when an employee at a children's gymnastics facility told the Montgomery County Police Department that Oldale had put a backpack that had a camera disguised to look like a car key fob in one of their bathrooms.
The employee told police that Oldale had previously left a backpack in that same bathroom.
Police searched his home a few days later, and seized several electronic items, including three laptops. While searching the laptops, authorities found two of the computers were used to access the "dark web."
Investigators also found files on the laptops that "had titles consistent with child pornography," and one of the laptops had connected to a dark web site used to exchange child pornography.
One of the computers had images and videos of exposed children, with some of them taken in public bathrooms.
A second search warrant was served at Oldale's home in July 2017, and police reportedly found three spy cameras, six memory cards used in cameras and phones, and six USB drives.
All of the seized items, except for one, had videos created using spy cameras that Oldale had placed his bathrooms.
Between May and July 2017, investigators found that Oldale recorded more than 1,000 videos of children using the hidden cameras in his bathrooms.
The videos show children changing into and out of bathing suits, taking showers, and using the toilet.
Investigators found that 84 children appeared in the videos, with about 60 being exposed at some point in the videos.
Oldale would get children over to his house by inviting them to "splash parties" at his home. He would e-mail invitations to their parents.
As part of his plea agreement, Oldale must register as a sex offender.
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