Story by Kait8 - Independence Co. bus driver charged with video voyeurism
INDEPENDENCE COUNTY, Ark. (KAIT) - An Independence County bus driver faces a video voyeurism charge after an investigation by the sheriff’s department back in March.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Independence County Circuit Clerk on June 23, sheriff’s investigators received a report about video voyeurism on March 1 from a 17-year-old girl.
The victim told investigators she knew Jeffery D. Williams, 67, for the last four years as he was the bus driver for her high school. The victim said she thought of Williams as a grandfather figure and over the years, she and her sister had spent time at his home.
Court documents state Williams told the victim he and his wife would be out of town, and she could have friends over and stay the weekend but that she had to be gone before their return.
On Feb. 29, the girl and her friends went over to the home and found a hidden trail camera set to capture video and images in the same bedroom the girl used on visits.
Inside the memory card, an investigator found videos of Williams setting up the camera in a bathroom and the bedroom used by the girl.
The affidavit adds it also caught Williams touching himself inappropriately.
Investigators then went through his computer and found searches for hidden cameras, motion cameras, teen porn, and more images of him setting up a Wild Game innovations camera in his home.
In an interview on March 3, Williams told investigators that he ‘made a bad mistake’ and admitted to asking the teen to bring over his friends while he went to Branson.
The report states that he said the purpose of the camera was to catch them because “everyone has a dark side, he has one, and Sgt. Rawlins found out what Jeffery’s was.”
He even told the sergeant he was glad he was caught, and praised him for helping him address the mistake.
No word on when he’ll be back in court.
Kait8, July 2020 - https://www.kait8.com/2020/07/14/independence-co-bus-driver-charged-with-video-voyeurism/