WESTFIELD – An employee of the Westfield YMCA’s Camp Shepard has been fired and is expected to be charged criminally after he allegedly used a cell phone camera to surveil female counselors in a bathroom.
The situation came to the attention of city police on Aug. 3 when a Southwick resident called to report that her daughter told her that she had seen a cell phone which was apparently being used to take pictures or video of her while she was in a bathroom at camp. The caller said that camp officials had already taken action.
In a prepared statement, the Y’s chief executive officer, Andrea Allard, said “We were shocked and appalled to learn that one of our former staff members took inappropriate photos of female camp counselors without their consent. The alleged perpetrator of this act has been terminated from his position and we have banned him from all YMCA properties.”
CAPT. MICHAEL McCABE
The suspect was identified soon after the initial complaint and his cell phone was seized. It was sent to a State Police forensics unit for examination.
Westfield Police Capt.Michael McCabe said “clearly this is going to end up with criminal charges” but said that the suspect has not yet been charged as the investigation is not complete.
Because the suspect has been neither arrested nor arraigned, McCabe was not able to identify him publicly but did say that he was an adult, “if by that you mean he is over 18.” At least some of the counselors the offender allegedly prayed on were younger, McCabe said and added, “We’re very confident all the victims have been identified.”
McCabe was quick to point out the that the camp officials were not at fault in this situation. “The ‘Y’ didn’t do anything wrong, the offender did,” he said.
“Their guardianship worked for 40 years,” he noted, but said that is is practically impossible to prevent crime in our society. “If you have a motivated offender and a suitable target you can almost never prevent it,” he said.
McCabe also pointed out that what the suspect will be charged for is a misdemeanor.
Under Chapter 272, Section 105 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the penalty for secretly surveilling another person who reasonably believes his or her private parts are not visible to the public is not more than a two and a half year term in the House of Correction, a fine of not more than $5,000 or both.
