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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2004/09/07/students-charged-with-illegal-taping/)

September 7, 2004

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Students Charged With Illegal Taping

By | September 7, 2004

Two Cornell students were charged last week with unlawful surveillance in the second degree after allegedly filming a couple during sexual intercourse. According to the Ithaca Journal, Michael Pusateri, 21, and Kristoffer Kaminski, 21, filmed the couple without their knowledge or consent.

Although Pusateri and Kaminski are expected to appear at The Ithaca City Court tomorrow according to Jonathan Gladbach

Student Leaders Meet to Discuss Housing Concerns

By September 8, 2004

In the aftermath of the arrest of landlord David Church for secretly videotaping his female tenants, five student leaders gathered outside of the Schwartz Performing Arts Center yesterday to discuss several proposals to reshape how students find off-campus apartments in Ithaca’s rental housing market. Offering a proposal to put Cornell students in City Hall, Ithaca Common Council member Gayraud Townsend ’05 (D-4th Ward) said that more paid work-study jobs for students are needed to put public records from the Planning Department and Housing Department on the Internet. “There is no better time to address off-campus housing,” said student-elected trustee Jacqueline Koppell ’05. She added that in addition to concerns of late about cameras and the “Collegetown Creeper,” who has frightened sleeping female students in at least 15 incidents since September 2003, there are long-standing issues with poor heating, termites and run-down properties. Koppell also proposed a student housing board which would circulate the Student Assembly-drafted Collegetown Bill of Rights, conduct surveys of students living off campus and make the information available on the Internet. Last year, 44 Cornell students worked with the City of Ithaca, and Townsend says many more would be needed to build an online database where students could find information about landlords’ property, upkeep and compliance records. Despite his prior criminal record, however, David Church’s records with the City of Ithaca’s housing department were in perfect order. A former tenant reported that Church was obsessive about keeping his houses in top shape. Approximately 75 percent of work-study funds for the students working downtown comes from the federal government, with the rest coming from the City of Ithaca, according to Townsend. But with budget shortfalls at the city level, other sources of funding will need to be found if more positions are to be made available. The S.A. will examine whether it is possible to provide financial support for Townsend’s proposal, according to Josh Bronstein ’05, vice president for finance. “We’re reaching out to all parts of the community to look at what can be done,” said Thomas W. Bruce, vice president for communications and media relations. “This kind of energy is going to help enormously.” Except for a forensics examination of computer hard drives seized in Church’s apartment, which should take only a few more weeks, the investigation into the Church case is nearly complete, according to Lt. Timothy Williams of the Ithaca Police Department. “We have not identified any more victims,” he said. Through the Students Helping Students group, former tenants of Church received $7,400 to help them find a new place to live. The Ithaca Police have also stepped up enforcement in the Collegetown area, hoping to catch the Collegetown creeper. Plainclothes officers are also on the street. “Hopefully we’ll have good results,” Williams said. Students should lock their doors and windows, he said, and if an incident occurs the police should be called immediately. Others at the gathering included event-organizer and alderperson Michael Taylor ’05 (D-4th ward), SA president Erica Kagan ’05, officers from the Ithaca Police Department and the Cornell University Police, as well as alderpersons Joel Zumoff MS ’70 (D-3rd ward) and Maria Coles (D-1st ward). Archived article by Peter NorlanderSun Senior Editor
Church Faces Stricter Law

By September 8, 2004

Landlord David Church faces far more jail time if he is found guilty of video-taping tenants due to a relatively new law that Gov. George Pataki signed into legislation in June of 2003, called Stephanie’s Law. The law established penalties for the video, digital or mechanical recording of another person in a “place and time when a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.” It also made it illegal to disseminate or sell such recorded images or videos. Second-degree unlawful surveillance, which Church is charged with, involves the recording of private moments for sexual arousal, amusement, entertainment or profit. Before the law was signed, a person could only be charged with trespassing or with disseminating images, which are small misdemeanors and punishable by fines, possible probation and community service. Prior to passage of this law, the actual act of violating privacy was no crime at all. “Stephanie’s Law really addressed a gap in the law that hadn’t kept up with the technology,” said Heather Campbell, education director for the Advocacy Center, a domestic violence counseling group. The law is named after a victim of voyeurism who was videotaped by her landlord. She became the law’s biggest proponent after her landlord, William Shultz, received only a small fine, three years of probation and community service for extensively invading her privacy and videotaping her. According to Campbell, various organizations such as her own and the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault had identified voyeurism as a legislative issue for a number of years prior to its passage in 2003. The crime of unlawful surveillance is now classified as a Class E felony and those found guilty must also register themselves with the New York State Sex Offender Registry. Stephanie’s state representative, Assembly member James Conte (R-Huntington Station), was one of the chief state legislators credited with getting the bill signed into law. In the aftermath of the bill’s passage, Conte stated, “The people of New York have won an important victory. Personal privacy and dignity have been, in part, restored. The new law recognizes surreptitious videotaping and photography as a felony and distinguishes the transgression on our rights to privacy as unacceptable behavior.” The law is not to be confused with Kansas’ “Sexually Violent Predators Law” first used in 1994, which is named after a victim of a sexual predator, and is also known as Stephanie’s Law. Church was arrested on Aug. 25, after one of his tenants discovered a video camera in a smoke alarm. Last week, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office told The Sun that Church could potentially serve sentences for the 10 charges consecutively, meaning that he faces a maximum of 10 to 40 years in prison. The Cornell community has been stunned by the event and those of last Saturday, when the Ithaca Journal reported that two members of Delta Phi had been charged with videotaping a couple having sex under Stephanie’s Law. The Sun reported yesterday that both sides are working to drop the charges, but the occurrence of two such incidents in such a short span has still been noted by all. In response to the Church arrest, President Jeffrey Lehman ’77, stated, “I am deeply troubled and concerned about the allegations that a landlord in Ithaca has grossly violated the privacy of his tenants, a number of whom are Cornell students. The safety and well-being of our students is of the highest importance to us.” Archived article by Michael MargolisSun Staff Writer