A Prince George man was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months probation for secretly video recording a woman through an apartment window.
Kevin James Mortenson, 45, was arrested on the night of June 7, 2017 after a woman called Prince George RCMP to report a man in a pickup truck near the corner of 15th Avenue and Liard Drive with a camera pointed towards a nearby building.
An RCMP officer arrived to find a pickup truck matching her description with Mortenson sitting alone in the driver's seat.
When asked why he was there, Mortenson initially claimed he was waiting for a friend but was unable to provide any contact information.
Meanwhile, a second officer had arrived on the scene and did a search for Mortenson on the RCMP's database which revealed he had been the cause of a similar complaint in 2012.
A subsequent search of the truck uncovered a camera tucked in the flap behind the passenger seat, along with a pair of binoculars and a charger for the camera from the centre console.
As he was being arrested, Mortenson told police "there is stuff on there" and would be talking to a lawyer.
When police contacted Mortenson's subject, the woman said she was unaware she was being recorded and noted that at no point was she naked.
A number of other recordings were also found, including images of two females sitting on a cement barrier with close ups of their genital areas. The woman was a "random person" he did not know, the court was told.
Mortenson pleaded guilty to a count of secretly recording a person in a private place with a reasonable intent of recording nudity at the first opportunity. As well, the court was told Mortenson made it clear he knows what he did was wrong but was unable to say why he did it and wants to get psychological councilling.
Getting that councilling is among the terms and conditions Mortenson must live up to while on probation. He is also prohibited from possession any cameras or video recording equipment outside his home with the exception of a smartphone - and no recordings can be found on it.
The probation order comes with a suspended sentence, so that if he violates the terms he could be brought back before a judge and ordered to spend the rest of the term in jail.
