A 65-year-old Danville man will spend six months in jail for setting up a camera to spy on teenage girls at a sleepover.
William Curtis Burroughs of Laurel Woods Drive pleaded no contest to peeping into a dwelling and intercepting oral communication.
Pittsylvania County Circuit Court Judge Charles J. Strauss sentenced Burroughs to three and a half years in prison with all but six months suspended Wednesday.
Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Haskins said Burroughs, a retired electrician, set up an infrared camera, which also uses night vision, in his basement before his step-granddaughter hosted a sleepover.
The prosecutor said Burroughs told the girls, who later found the camera, where to sleep and change clothes after swimming.
“He confessed he wanted to watch them,” Haskins said.
Burroughs hooked the camera up to a television in his bedroom, the prosecutor said.
The girls became suspicious after Burroughs made comments about things said during the sleepover.
“It gave them the clear impression he was monitoring what they were doing,” Haskins said.
Burroughs admitted to running wiring, but claimed the camera was not hooked up.
During a sentencing hearing Wednesday, Mary Davis, an elder and co-pastor at the church Burroughs attends, said Burroughs voluntarily participated in an addiction program.
“He came to understand he had a problem,” Davis said. “He was very apologetic for having done anything that would hurt someone else.”
Burroughs routinely helps with a clothes closet for the needy and church activities, Davis said.
“He’s a very important part of the church family,” she said.
Ricky Eanes, a leader of the recovery program, said Burroughs is “a wonderful human being.”
“I take it as a real honor to be here to say something nice about him,” Eanes said. “It’s a terrible thing that happened, but it’s an aberration. It’s not who Bill is.”
Defense attorney Henry Crider said Burroughs accepts responsibility for his actions.
“He can’t take back what happened here. He has to take the consequences,” Crider said.
Haskins said Burroughs committed a crime that required planning and time.
“Praying in public is one thing, but what you do in private is another,” Haskins said. “Home is where you go when you are tired of being nice.”
Burroughs apologized.
“I am truly sorry,” he said.
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