Posted on 03/15/2003 2:53:47 PM PST by Dubya
What started 15 months ago as a search for storage space ended with a discovery that would change Allyson Matta's life forever.
The out-of-place wire in the top of the tall cabinet in her downstairs rental apartment didn't immediately raise any red flags. But then she noticed something that struck her as odd – a small hole in the spine of one of her books just below it.
Ms. Matta said the discovery prompted her to pick up the book, only to find wasn't a book at all, but a cover wrapped around a box. Inside the box was a tiny camera aimed directly at her bathroom door, which she always kept open because she lived alone.
"I don't know how I stayed on that ladder because my knees buckled under me," she said. "That was when I knew he had been watching me."
The "he" Ms. Matta was referring to is Michael Bahen, who lived in the apartment just above her.
Mr. Bahen, property manager of the apartment she rented, had wired the camera to his television and may have been watching Ms. Matta for the seven months she had lived there.
Mr. Bahen was arrested November 7, 2001, and eight days later pleaded guilty to secret peeping – a misdemeanor. Because he had no prior record, Mr. Bahen received a 45-day suspended sentence and 18 months probation.
The light sentence so incensed Ms. Matta that she has now made it her personal mission to advocate proposed legislation that would make it a Class I felony to videotape anyone while secretly peeping into a room. The offense would at least carry the possibility of prison time, depending on the offender's record.
On Tuesday, Ms. Matta will be in Raleigh to testify before a state House judiciary committee considering the bill, which was introduced by Joe Hackney, D-Orange. The bill has several co-sponsors, including Rep. Bonner Stiller, R-Brunswick and Rep. Carolyn Justice, R-Pender.
"I'm determined to make changes," Ms. Matta said. "I'm determined that something good will come out of this."
Last year, a similar bill introduced last year by Rep. Hackney, which would have made the crime a more serious Class H felony, passed the House but died in the Senate after private investigators objected and said it could impede their work.
Sitting in her attorney's office Friday afternoon, Ms. Matta, – a tall blonde dressed in a business suit – was a picture of composure. But she became visibly agitated as she began to sift through photos of her former apartment and came across one of the book cover that hid the camera.
"That book was a gift from my mother," she said, pointing to the cover of The Century, by ABC news anchorman Peter Jennings. She said whenever she sees a copy of the book today she feels a tinge of anxiety.
Ms. Matta said her anxiety has grown into a feeling of pervasive fear that she has yet to overcome, even with counseling. The day after she discovered the camera she moved out of the apartment and now lives in another county.
But she is so paranoid about being spied on that she regularly disassembles her lamps and furniture to look for hidden cameras.
Her lawyer, Ashley Culbreth Council, said scores of videotapes were found but not seized by police the day Mr. Bahen was arrested. Ms. Council said neither the police nor District Attorney John Carriker have given her client a reason why the tapes weren't seized.
But in Februrary, when Mr. Carriker ordered Mr. Bahen to turn over videotapes to Ms. Matta's attorneys, he only produced 40 – none of which contained images of her.
While Mr. Bahen has admitted he viewed images of Ms. Matta, he denies videotaping her.
Ms. Matta doesn't believe him.
"I'm worried that one day I'm going to go on the Internet and find an image of myself," she said.
Ms. Matta also struggles with what she sees as her Christian duty to forgive Mr. Bahen – whom she described as a "weird loner" – with the anger she still feels over his having violated her privacy for so long.
"I used to wonder why he never went out and now I know," she said. "He didn't have to go out for entertainment because I was his entertainment."
Her attorney has filed a lawsuit against Mr. Bahen and Cameron Park Inn, the company that owned the Nun Street house where the peeping occurred. The house has since been sold.
The suit seeks damages for breach of lease, intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, trespass, negligent employment and punitive damages in excess of $10,000.
On Friday, Rep. Stiller said he wasn't surprised to find that secret peeping is still a misdemeanor in the state because laws don't always keep pace with technology.
"Sometimes stuff happens that you haven't thought of," he said.
Mr. Carriker, who said the secret peeping bill has the support of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys, agrees, pointing out that the original law was written before the advent of videocassette recorders and tiny cameras.
"Privacy is now under attack from new technology," he said.
Victoria Rouch: 343-2315
victoria.rouch@wilmingtonstar.com
for me, it's more like nausea.
Note to self: wireless.
PS: I have no idea what has led so many FReepers here to attack the victim. This is highly unusual, imo.
Well you do think there is sexual tension between Sam and Frodo....
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